Family,
It
just can't have already been another week. It just can't have been.
District conference is already over? What in the world! Time is going by
so insanely quickly. I just can't even believe it at all.
Anyways, the past
week has had so many spiritual highlights, that I am not even sure where
to begin. District conference was just amazing. I love the Terrace
zone. It was just a tender mercy for me to be able to be there for my
third district conference. When I entered into the field, there were
just 3 branches in the district. And it's grown! Now there are five. The
last district conference that I was there for was when the Kitimat
branch was organized, and we were there for the first sacrament meetings
of the Kitimat branch. That was a year ago, and I was sent up there to
train Elder Atwood and advised to find a family to baptize up there so
that the branch wouldn't fizzle. The district conference before that, I
was in Burns Lake, and they had just sent missionaries to Haida Gwaii,
and I had no idea that I would someday be serving there. My heart was
just so overwhelmed seeing all of the members and converts and people
there. It was all I could do to hold myself together, but all of the
hymns that we sang were missionary hymns in the 250ish range of the
hymnbook, and during those I couldn't even sing I was so choked up.
Northern BC will always be hallowed ground to me.
Daniel and Chelsea
Boyson, who were baptized when I was in Kitimat, were there, and they
are both doing great. Daniel Boyson is even preparing for a mission, and
I had the opportunity to ordain Daniel an elder and confer the
Melchizedek Priesthood. It was just so powerful and I was so grateful
for the opportunity. I just rejoice to think of the blessing that a
mission will be in his life and the experiences that he will have there.
I'm so happy for him!
I also had the
chance to see Brian, someone who joined the church in Terrace but I had
the chance to find, and then teach along the way. He was as excited to
see me as I was to see him! He originally allowed us to just carry some
garbage outside of his house to a dumpster nearby because he's older and
has some health complications, and in between loads he would tell us
about how his friends think that we are a cult, etc. Finally, he decided
that if we could tell him what Romans 10:9-10 say, then that would mean
that we aren't a cult. As fate would have it, I did in fact have Romans
10:9-10 memorized. And so we were able to sit down with him and teach
him the pure and simple gospel of Jesus Christ, without any of the dogma
or confusing teachings he'd learned in other places and online. Later
that day as we were planning and talking, we were worried about him
finding "unfavorable materials" when he called to tell us that he was a
"Gathering of Israel pundit" and that he believed the Book of Mormon
because "this Nephi character is making prophecies that were fulfilled
that nobody thought would happen until it did" and stuff like that. It
was awesome. Sometimes he would still find concerns and call about them,
but he told me on Sunday that "every time he calls to confound the
missionaries he gets confounded" and he's doing great. On Saturday
morning he called to dispute the identity of Michael the Archangel but
by the time that the meeting on Saturday was held he shared with me his
opinion that Joseph Smith could be the white horseman in the book of
Revelation, so we figure he'd changed his mind! He got his patriarchal
blessing this past weekend, and is still just doing great. It was
awesome to get the chance to see him again.
We had the chance to see many of the members in Kitimat
and some from Burns Lake, too! The Syphuses, the Van Hornes, the
Kaberrys, they are all just great.
All
said and done, the rest of the trip was just a whirlwind! On Thurday,
our ferry left at about 10 pm in the evening, and we arrived at around 7
in the morning the following day in Prince Rupert. The first night we
were up late and up early because sleeping in proselyting clothes on
industrial carpet isn't incredibly comfortable, but that was okay
because we ended up just spending more time on the deck watching the
most beautiful place on earth sail by. Fortunately we're getting to that
time of the year where there are just a few hours of darkness at night,
and it was light most of the time. And goodness, was it beautiful! They
say Prince Rupert is a rainy place, (for perspective it apparently gets
about double the centimeters of rainfall that Vancouver has) but every
time I've been there it's been sunny. We were at the same ferry dock
that the family members that go to Ketchikan use to catch the ferry out
there, if that's how they get there! Anyways, that put us in Prince
Rupert on Friday morning, and so we spent all Friday on the streets of
Prince Rupert finding, and then we rode down with the missionaries there
to Terrace for the conference.
The district conference was amazing, too! For the first
time in the Terrace district's history, we had a member of the 70, the
area authority for our area Elder Paul Christensen, spoke, and shared
many cool experiences. He, independent of any organization or charity or
anything like that, just packs up and flies somewhere in the middle of
Africa, and just follows the spirit to find children that need help,
assesses what they need, and then flies back to Canada to pull together
supplies. Then he returns and helps. He's done it many times. As he
searches, he has a lot of opportunities to teach people the gospel, and
see miracles. People will approach him and tell him that they had dreams
that he was supposed to come and help them, just like right out of the
scriptures.
It was a hybrid conference too, where half of it was in
person and the other half was broadcast to all of Canada from Salt Lake
City. President Eyring and Elder Holland spoke, and it was powerful.
Alma-Rose was able to be there for the conference, and it was just a
great experience for her. She claims she had bad allergies in the
building in Terrace... but we think that she was tearing up because of
the Spirit. :)
When we went back, Wendy managed to score
Elder Rose and I a cabin with beds in it, which was very much
appreciated because the first night on the ferry was probably more
tiring than restful, and the other two nights we were on the floor of
the vinyl flooring of a modified 2 car garage that the Terrace
missionaries use for an apartment. Elder Rose and everyone else said
that it was a stormy and rocky sailing, but I was just out for it.
Well, yesterday we
had the chance to be with Pete, Val, and Wendy, and we just love them
and the members that are here. It's so hard to even think about leaving
these people (the remedy is to just not think about it). So to answer
the question, "how does it feel to be where I am?", the answer would
have to be just... hard. I can't imagine not being here with these
people. And yet, I just as desperately would just love to be able to be
with everyone at home and share all the miracles. So, we just won't
think about it! ...Although I guess I have to figure out how to get all
the stuff that I've acquired here back home! Canadian customs is going
to rip a chunk out of me. You're allowed to take home $800 worth of
things without paying anything, but based on what you see if the stores
here, that hand-carved and soon to be hand-painted paddle probably will
be worth around that alone. It's 6 feet long and probably going to be
beastly to get through the airport. But! We'll figure something out!
Anyways, love you all! And, until next week, have a great one! As
always, thanks for the support and for the emails!
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