Hello family!
It's
Canada's more-emphasized version of Veteran's Day today! Well, I don't
know about more-emphasized, but it's a big deal up in Canada. Shopping
took a while because of "moments of silence" where they came over the
loudspeakers and told everybody to quiet down. It was neat. Everybody,
even missionaries, wears these fake poppies pinned to their clothes for a
few weeks before Remembrance Day. It's pretty intense. For the first
and probably only time (I missed the first Canada Day in the MTC, and
most of the Kitimat branch wasn't Canadian so we didn't sing it then
either) of my life, I sang O Canada in a Sacrament Meeting. Tears were
certainly shed.
Well, this week
has been a spiritual feast, as far as weeks go. This week was mission
conference and mission council, and so our whole zone made the 6 hour
bus ride down to the lower mainland to hear from President Tilleman and
Elder Paul V. Johnson of the 70. We received so much guidance. It was
kind of like getting a drink from a fire hose. I loved it. A lot of
missionaries were expecting some form of technology to be introduced at
this mission conference, but no iPads for the Canada Vancouver mission
yet. We were taught how to continue to hasten the work, though: by
talking with everyone! By working with members! "Hastening the work"
means working harder and following the counsel of our priesthood
leaders, not getting iPads.
One of the most
amazing trainings that I've received yet on my mission was in mission
council with Elder Johnson. His training pretty much was just one
inspired question: "What have you learned about leadership from
President and Sister Tilleman?" And that question was all that it took.
We just filled the rest of the time. President Tilleman literally had
tears in his eyes and as he shook my hand as he was going around the
room, he said "that was the hardest thing I have had to do in my life".
Humble giant. I know that everybody says that their mission is the best
mission in the world. But really. We think our mission is the best
mission in the world. :) We were reflecting on the influence that our
mission president has had on our lives, and President Tilleman really is
a fantastic mission president. He really shows that the best leaders
are the best followers. He just makes you want to follow the prophet.
We've seen a
lot of very awesome miracles over the past week! We had a lot of
experiences over the past week that really emphasized how "every moment
counts" on your mission. We found several new investigators over the
past week from choosing to go and work hard instead of sitting around.
Yesterday, we were going to pick up a member for a lesson, and we had
about 10 minutes early. We could have made calls or something. The calls
probably would have been a good use of time. But, we ran outside and on
the 2nd door we knocked on, we were able to teach a (admittedly quick)
first lesson. We found several new investigators in that period where
it's about 15 or 20 minutes until curfew, it's been dark for hours, it's
cold, rainy, and people seem more irritated when you knock on their
doors. It really is when you put in a little extra effort that you see
miracles. Over the past transfer, we've constantly been trying to find
ways to hasten the work, and I've been working harder than I ever have
previously on my mission. We just run everywhere and are always going
and going. Learning how to push out the natural man that wants us to
stay in our warm and dry car.
Oh man. I love the work in Vernon. Latisha, Steven's
landlord who is a former investigator, just called us to tattle on Tim
and Chris, Steven's other roommates who are also investigators. She
feels like they are just not giving her enough respect, and so she
expects us to straighten them out. She is a funny lady. I love the
people that you get to meet on your mission. I sometimes think as I'm
sitting in people's houses, "there is no other conceivable reason on
earth that I would be sitting in this persons house right now".
Anyways! Family, I sure do love you all.
Thanks for the happy birthday wishes. It's crazy that I am turning 21.
21 feels like twice as weird as 20. 21 sounds... older. Weird weird!
Anyways, sorry, email time is a little short this week! Hope that
everyone has a good week, though!
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