We'd purchase the Kingdom Hall for sale here, but the baptismal font is just too small...

 

 

Family,

Well, I talked to you yesterday and will see you all in a month, but I guess that you probably still want an email, mom. So I guess I'll write an email.

The past week has just been a sacred, sacred week! One of the highlights of the mission, for sure. It's not very frequent that your mission president more or less becomes one of your companions for 24 hours and even less frequent that you get out in the ocean as a missionary, but when it happens, goodness, it's amazing. We learned so many lessons from the weekend, too.

As I mentioned in the phone call, the airport that President Tilleman flew into is on Moresby Island, but where most of the visits took place was on Graham Island. After we picked up President Tilleman (and had some quality gospel conversations just in the airport with him) we headed off to the ferry. Since they've recently reduced the ferry schedule for the ferry that runs between the islands, the ferries have gotten a lot more crowded, and with only one car in front of us in line, they cut off our vehicle so we'd have to wait for the next ferry. Since we knew that President Tilleman would only have a brief stay on the island, we just had the day packed with teaching appointments, and so missing that ferry would force us to cancel a lot of appointments, and Alma-Rose's interview was supposed to take place right after we got off the ferry. So just immediately acting on a prompting, we jumped out of the truck and just ran towards the ferry and asked if someone could walk on the ferry, even if they didn't have a vehicle. The ferry worker agreed, even though walk-on boarding is supposed to take place before people drive on. So, President Tilleman was able to run down and get on the ferry, where Sid, the hereditary chief that we've been teaching, happened to also be riding and offered to give President Tilleman a ride to the interview. That was awesome, because that gave President Tilleman and Sid the chance to have a one on one talk. God just orchestrated that one perfectly, and no appointments needed to be cancelled.

We a lot of other miracle visits, including setting a temple date with one of the less active members who's been on the fence about committing to go for a long time. We only had a very short period of time for the visit, and we couldn't meet in their home, and so in just a few minutes on the street outside the little public library in Masset,we just witnessed a miracle take place! It was awesome. We had a lot of other visits, but one of the most powerful ones as well was with Sarah, who we just think is just great. (She said the opening prayer in Sacrament meeting this week, by the way.) We just talked a lot about the Book of Mormon, and during the discussion we learned that she does think that the Book of Mormon is true! She's not at the "baptism" part of her journey, but she's doing great. We got out of that lesson rather late and we still needed to travel back to Queen Charlotte for the night, and so we got back late enough for President Tilleman to say that it was the latest that he had ever been out teaching with missionaries. The entire drive home he was just teaching us, and it was awesome. Because we were out later than the schedule usually permits, he taught us about obedience to our priesthood leaders, including respecting the keys that they hold (for example, President Tilleman holds the keys that would let us be out later than 9 or 9:30) Relatively close to the beginning of the drive, he pointed at the clock that read "11:11" and told us that that time should always remind us about obedience from now on. So, there you go. 11:11 means obedience.

The day following was the day of Alma-Rose's baptism, which was just an amazing service. When we arrived we ran along the beach to the water to feel what temperature we were dealing with, and it was just almost an out of body experience it was so beautiful. The faithful little branch came out to support her, along with some other onlookers. Alma-Rose has been very public about her decision to be baptized, and as a result, she's faced a lot of opposition it, and it hasn't phased her at all. In fact, the church (and religion in general) faces a lot of opposition on the islands here, partially because of the direction that the world is going, and partially because of abuses that other religions have done on the island that have left a bad taste in a lot of the native's mouths. She's just a great example of being a disciple in a world that seems to be lacking them.

It seems like from what the themes of general conference are and from how the world is, that we're all going to need to step it up and be disciples. When we're kind of cozy in Utah we kind of get shielded from the way that the world is, but we're all going to need to stand strong when opposition and persecution come! And we all need to work together to help make this world a place by sharing the gospel. Sometimes the islands here feel like a smaller version of the whole world, but here you can see the difference that even one person that develops and has integrity to their testimony can make.

Well, family! The church is true! Heavenly Father is there, and He loves us (The name for the creator in Haida is Salaana, which means "he who powers the lights" as in lights in the sky.) He sent His Son to save each one of us. Not to condemn us, but to save us and to give us every possible opportunity to return to live with God again. And we have a prophet on the earth! We can receive guidance directly from God.

And every time there's a baptism or anything like that, there's usually a big potluck, and the missionaries get sent home with all the leftovers. So it's a good thing that I now have a Lotoja registration to scare me into not eating too much!

Sure love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Blotter

Miracles have not ceased! (Moroni 7:36-37)

Family,

 

I just don't even know how you start an email recounting a week like the past week! I guess like this: "Jed! Congratulations on being baptized! That is so exciting! Good for you! I wish that I could have been there to see it, but you absolutely made the right decision. We can't even begin to understand how big of a deal baptism is, but you'll be blessed for your whole life. Here's what the Savior has got to tell you about it:

 

21 And [since Jed] will hear my voice [he] shall be my sheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive.

22 For behold, this is my church; whosoever is baptized shall be baptized unto repentance. And whomsoever ye receive shall believe in my name; and [Jed] will I freely forgive.

23 For it is I that taketh upon me the sins of the world; for it is I that hath created them; and it is I that granteth unto [Jed] that believeth unto the end a place at my right hand.
24 For behold, in my name [is Jed now] called; and [because he knows me, Jed] shall come forth, and shall have a place eternally at my right hand.
(Mosiah 26)

Secondly, Toni got baptized this week! It was such a miracle. We set the date on Friday, and she got baptized 2 days later. We were talking on Thursday about how Elder Baker and Elder Lindemann (another missionary who has served in Vernon previously) were going to be in the Vernon area for exchanges, and so they'd be at church this Sunday. And we thought, why doesn't Toni just get baptized this weekend? Everything would just be perfect! Toni has been taught since sometime in August, and I've been working with her ever since coming to Vernon 4 or 5 months ago. And we've probably planned in her baptismal service 5 or 6 times in the previous months. And she was SO READY to be baptized. But she travels a lot, was sick a lot, and had different obstacles to her baptism, so it had just never happened. She was going to be out of town this weekend, but she ended up not going on her trip so we went in to go and teach her with the goal of setting a baptismal date.  We started by talking about how she's gotten answers to her prayers, how she knows the Book of Mormon is true, how she's gotten her connection with God back, and how she knows that she needs to be baptized. And then we invited her to be baptized on Sunday and the spirit was so strong. It was amazing. At first she was kind of incredulous, but then she started to think about it, and just said "I guess I don't have any reason not to be baptized. Yeah. I'll be baptized. What do I need to do?"  It was amazing. We just pulled together a baptismal service, there were a few more bumps in the road (it almost got delayed for another month so that her friend in Alberta could be there, etc) We just kept going, and the result was one of the most powerful baptismal services that I've ever attended. Since Elder Baker was around, he was able to baptize her. When she came up out of the water, she just said "wow". 

And... now it's transfer calls later today, and I am very sincerely hoping that I don't get transferred, because I want to be able to confirm Toni next week, on top of all the other miracle people that we're teaching here in Vernon. But... we'll see!

In between church and the baptismal service, Elder Baker and I had the chance to go on a brief exchange for a few hours. It was awesome. We had an appointment with one of our investigator's future daughter-in-law, (complicated situation) who's future husband is a less active member who just loves the church and is working on coming back. Anyways, she's now pregnant, which has forced her to stay away from partying and the rest of her previous lifestyle, and so she's been able to get some perspective and she's totally ready to be taught. There are just so many miracles. But anyways, it was just great to work with Elder Baker again. We're just two peas in a pod. So that was miracle #2.

Lastly, we've just been seeing so many miracles with the people that we are teaching! Vicki, who I've previously mentioned, is just getting closer and closer to quitting smoking. She's been facing a lot of social pressures from people at the church she previously attended, and is just staying strong. She's meeting with us consistently and just doing great. At one point, she was on the streets of Vancouver (which is why a member family raise her kids) and she has just turned her life around and is just doing great. The Krugers are doing great, too. Sister Kruger now has a job, and so that family has some sort of income. They just need to quit smoking, too! Tobacco. It's just the worst. Canada has horror-movie status warning pictures and messages on the boxes of their cigarettes, and they're taxing the daylights out of them, but people here are still just smoking machines sometimes. It's the worst. You can definitely see that following the guidance of prophets is the right thing to do. Tis better far to avoid all those issues.

Elder Fitzner and I have a deal going that if he can eat 7 McTanks (which is what we call when you put McDonald's entire dollar menu ($1.40 here...) chicken sandwich in between the patties of their dollar menu double cheeseburger) then I have to pay for all of them. BC missionaries don't have the same weight loss concerns as in Korea. We still eat seaweed, but usually it's in the form of all you can eat sushi, and the rolls are deep fried.

Well, sure love you all! Thanks for all of the support. Hope that it's just a great week for one and all.

Elder Blotter

Elder Lindemann, Elder Baker, Toni, Elder Fitzner and Elder Blotter

Report from Vernon

Family,

Well, what a week of miracles it's been up in Vernon! We've loved it. The past week has taken us up into Armstrong, Salmon Arm, and Sicamous, down to Kamloops for some baptismal interviews, and into the waters of baptism. It's been great. Apparently there was an article about President Burt (the future mission president of the Canada Vancouver Mission, not that he'll ever be my mission president. Still, exciting times.) in the Herald Journal. Elder Kitchen (who is from Providence, I think and previously one of Dad's patients) just showed me his picture. Still, we've been blessed!

Well, first off, April dropped an "F" off of her religious title, and is now just plain "LDS"! Her baptismal service was beautiful and well attended by the ward. April was just a miracle right from the beginning. It was a very interesting teaching situation from the beginning. She didn't have a Book of Mormon nor had she ever read it, but she still had such a strong testimony that it was the word of God. It definitely took a lot of faith for her to meet with us and to talk with us, particularly because she had absolutely no support from her evangelical extended family or polygamous friends and husband. But she kept on meeting with us, and she committed to live a lifestyle that will require her to go against the grain of her current social situations. But good for her! It will be such a blessing in her life to be a member of the church. The ward has been reaching out to her as well, giving her rides when she needs them, and things like that. It's so important to reach out to new members, because it's kind of a foreign world in the church sometimes, but the ward here is doing great.

We really love serving in the Vernon 1st Ward. The members are great. It really isn't that frequent in this mission that you end up teaching somebody that the members have invited you to meet with, but it's happened quite a few times here in Vernon. When the youth in the ward have a friend that's curious, they share the gospel with them. They don't make it some awkward, forced thing, they just talk to them and invite them to learn more. It's really cool. We were invited to meet "somebody who wanted to learn more" at a less active member's (Sis Alexander) home by one of the active members (Bro Coleman) earlier this week. We found out later that Sister Alexander runs a group home for special needs individuals, but we didn't know that at the time. But when we got to the address where we were told there was a lesson waiting, there were tons of special needs people walking around, and we were very confused and thought we were totally in the wrong place. We heard voices calling us to the lesson, and when we got there, there were 2 less active members(who live/work in the group home), their home teachers, and a man who  wanted to learn more. So, at first we were terribly confused as to what was going on, but in the end, we realized that their home teachers were on the ball, and because they were doing their home teaching, they found somebody that we could share the gospel with.

We saw a lot of miracles this week with our teaching pool, too! Mother, if you'd like the names of some of the people we're working with... here we are. Toni, the most awesome longtime investigator in the world, is working on a date for February 11th. She just needs to talk some things over with a guy she's in a long distance relationship with. We met with the Mathesons, a family that we just love to death but haven't met with because we handed them off to the sisters when they put sister missionaries in the ward. But they were never able to meet with them, so we finally just did, and Sister Matheson agreed to take the missionary lessons! Praise God daily. We've just been very blessed to be able to find people to teach. We've been working closely with the Kruger family, and they're still coming to church and working on living the word of Wisdom so that they can be baptized/rebaptized.

We went on exchanges to Salmon Arm and Sicamous this week! The parts of the Okanagan that we're in you can tell are very vacation-oriented. Sicamous is apparently the Houseboat capital of Canada. Everything is frozen over and in winter mode, but it's definitely a beautiful region, and there are lots of people here for winter sports. (Dad will be able to report back about the skiing!) We still found some humble people to share the gospel with though, so we won't complain.

Um... Mom wanted an Elder Fitzner story... Elder Fitzner spent hundreds of dollars on hockey cards when we were first companions looking for rare cards with pieces of jersey in them. He'd buy $40 bucks worth, not find what he was looking for, and then... go back and do it again! And then he decided they were distracting, so he gave them all to an investigator. He did get some very rare ones that apparently make it worth it as an investment if you're really into it.

Welll! The church is true. We're blessed up here in Vernon. I'll attach some pictures from the baptism!

Elder Blotter

The Spirit of God....is Burnin' in Vernon.

Family,

Well, just like that it's been another week. Man, it's weird how quickly time goes by. It's been a great week! Time is certainly not going slowly. There were a lot of spiritual outpourings this week. We were down in Richmond for mission council earlier this week, and it was an amazing experience. For the year 2014, the mission set a goal for 2014 convert baptisms, which is probably 5 times the number of baptisms that we'll have this year. The work is hastening! The faith of the missionaries in the council was just awesome. In the Canada Vancouver mission, we've started to find more new investigators in a one year period than there are members in the province.

This weekend, Kelly got baptized! (Toni's is now for December 15th) It was a beautiful baptismal service. Kelly really was a miracle. The highlight of the service was her testimony at the end. She stood up and bore a brief testimony of the Book of Mormon and the spiritual power that she can find in the pages, and then she talked about how her entire life she has been searching for the truth, and has explored tons of different churches, but "3 weeks ago the missionaries knocked on my door, came back the next day, and I've known that I have found the truth ever since". She's such an awesome convert. It really has been a blessing to have taught her.

Okay. I wish I had all the time in the world to write down all of the crazy spiritual experiences that we have every week. One of them... so, President Tilleman promised us that if we do everything that we can every day, we will be able to find at least one new investigator every day. One day we went all day without finding anyone in between our teaching appointments, and we just kept on thinking of that promise and we were questioning if we had done "everything" that we could have that day. We ended up finding our new investigator that day at 8:56 as I was backing up Elder Baker (fun missionary safety rule) so we could pull out of our parking spot and drive to the apartment for the evening. This guy walked by the vehicle, and so I stopped him, and Elder Baker got out of the vehicle and we ended up teaching him a lesson right on the spot there.

Last night, we had our FLDS investigator to the Christmas Devotional. She loved it. It's amazing to realize that we have a living prophet on the earth today, who can give us messages directly from Heavenly Father. What a blessing that would be for the whole world, if they would just listen to the message that we share. It's made me reflect on the blessings that the gospel brings to those who actually apply it in their lives. Every day we're on the streets and getting glimpses into people's homes. And guess what? People need the gospel! In conference, Elder Ballard committed the whole church to "reach out to just one" with love as a gift to the Saviour. I hope that everybody remembers to do so! It won't go unnoticed by those watching from Heaven.

Well, Merry Christmas, everybody! Happy birthday next week, Mother! I guess next P-day will be the 16th so there will be another email then, but still! Sorry, this email might be short! We have a baptismal interview that we have to conduct that we need to get to! Love you all lots!

Elder Blotter

PS- 

One of the pictures is us and Kelly. 

In the other one, Steven Rasmussen (who is doing great over in Ontario and still going strong since his baptism,) is in between me and Elder Baker. Drunk Tim (still a work in progress) is on the end.

Life is A1 in the Okanagan

Family,

Well, this week has just been a highlight week of the mission, and therefore of life. We just got off exchanges with Elder Epperson, who President Tilleman (randomly) decided to make one of his assistants mid-transfer.  It's been good to work with him again. He's going home in December already! That is totally crazy. Steven got baptized yesterday! He was so ready. It was also Stake Conference this week, and we've just seen a lot of miracles over the past week.

First off though, it snowed in Cache Valley?? It hasn't even snowed in Vernon yet. We were on exchanges in Merritt, and it was snowing there and the roads were just terrible on the way back, but we are still snow-free. And we're in Canada. I love Vernon. It's like a less dry version of Cache Valley with scenic lakes and lots of tasty produce. Just with fewer Mormons and no temple. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too.

So! At the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference, because President Tilleman couldn't attend, Elder Baker and I were asked to pick one of us to speak in his place. We "cast lots" as they say, and Elder Baker was the speaker. Elder Blotter was just cruising along, thinking he was in the clear, when the following day at Stake Conference, when President Tilleman was speaking, in front of the entire Stake, he says "I understand that yesterday Elder Baker had the opportunity to speak for me. I just keep on think that that is just not fair for only one person in that companionship to have the opportunity to speak."

Oh. No.

Yeah. My stomach dropped somewhere in between the only surviving pair of Hush Puppies that I came out with. Fortunately, in the end, I was only called upon to recite the 1st Vision (no pressure, you just have to be on-the-spot perfect, because what missionary doesn't have the 1st Vision memorized, right?) and to bear brief testimony about it. But still. My mind was totally blank as I was walking up to the podium and I don't remember what I did say, so hopefully I got it all right.

Anyways, after that, it was Steven's baptismal service. What a beautiful service! The spirit was so strong. I'm sure our investigators that were there felt that. Elder Baker hadn't had the chance to perform the ordinance of baptism before, but he did great. Or at least, I'm confident that he did great. Steven brought Tim, who... wasn't sober. And so Elder Epperson and I missed the ordinance because we were separating Tim from this poor girl from the YSA ward he was harassing. Bishop escorted him home during the service. What a nightmare. But, he brought another 19 year old friend, Chris, and after the service, we gave him a church tour and set a baptismal date with him for November 30th. Miracles have not ceased! When Steven was bearing his testimony, he talked about how he was asked recently about what his hobbies are, and he had no idea what to say because he's had to completely redefine his life since committing to live the Saviour's commandments. He's literally a new person, because he can not and does not want to do the things that he used to do to waste his life away. What an exciting time for Steven! For him, baptism is completely an opportunity to "walk in the newness of life" (Romans 6:4). He's literally had so much faith, and it's been a blessing to have the chance to work with him. He is the kind of person that you are on your mission to find.

Other than that, life's been good! It was Halloween this week, and that makes it the 2nd to last time on my mission that I'll have to stay inside for an evening. We didn't get any trick or treaters this year, but the JW's found us (thanks to Bishop Whibley, who told them that he has a basement suite as a joke) and have been sticking pamphlets in our door.  We had a planning session, but finished, and in the end, we played real life fruit ninja with a knife and all the apples that this Sikh couple across the street gave us that we couldn't eat fast enough before they started to go bad.

Well, it's been a good week! It was good to hear from all of you. The work in the Vernon zone is going well. We're finding, teaching, baptizing. The church is true. We don't even appreciate what we have! We have a prophet on the earth, giving us direction and guidance from God. How awesome is that? 

Elder Blotter

Kitimat, Kitimat, Kitimat.

 

This picture is priceless.  :)  Cute Chelsea Boyson's baptism.

Family!

Well, it's been a good week up in the North! It was kind of a hectic week, but it concluded with Chelsea Boyson's baptism, which was just a blessed and beautiful thing. From the beginning, Chelsea has been very prepared for baptism, and has just always had a strong desire to be baptized. Her service was right after church, and she was very excited the entire day.

But... over the course of the week, it felt like there was opposition from every possible source of opposition to prevent her from being baptized! The original plan was to have Chelsea baptized on the 27th, and then confirmed the next day on the 28th. But, our branch president just was... not too keen on having two baptismal services on two Saturdays in a row. In fact, he was very strangely opposed to it. With convert baptisms, you need to be confirmed in Sacrament meeting, So, we had to reschedule it so that she was going to be baptized on the 28th, and then confirmed the next Sunday. But, they found out they were going to be out of town the next Sunday, and it's just not ideal to have somebody baptized and not receive the Holy Ghost for 2-3 weeks. So, we were in kind of a pickle, until President Tilleman authorized confirming her at her baptismal service. So, we did that. And then in the middle of the night we get some angsty text messages from an unknown number (...which is just no doubt Sister Boyson) telling us that we are not to come to her house again and "requesting" that we stop teaching her children the doctrines of Satan. Pleasant text to wake up to. In years previous, Sis. Boyson had snuck Chelsea out underneath Bro. Boyson's nose and had her baptized in the church that she goes to, and so Bro. Boyson is very insistent on letting Chelsea be baptized into another church if that's what she chooses. So, even though she started making a fuss, fortunately it was ignored. After they had the argument, we were talking with Bro. Boyson, and the conversation kind of went like this:

Bro. Boyson: "She said our church is evil because the Bible teaches there can't be another book. Is that what the Bible says?"

Us: "No, Brother Boyson. The Bible does not say that. Would you like us to show you what she was probably talking about?"

Bro. Boyson: "No, I was just making sure."

And then we were good. But you know, at the end of the week, because the Lord's hand was very firmly guiding the situation, Chelsea was able to be baptized!

Other than that, we did have a few miracles this week! First, the Prince Rupert family that I mentioned previously that had the missionaries knock on her door as she was praying got baptized! Secondly, this week I was on exchanges in Terrace, when we had the chance to help a guy take out his garbage. As we were doing so, he asked us if we knew Romans 10:9-10. I did, because, well, it's a funny one to quote imitating a Baptist preacher. In short, he first seemed like he was going to want to bash with us, but his heart slowly softened, and by the end, he was very open to what we believed. He said he originally thought we were in a cult, but now he thinks that maybe running into us was why "the Holy Spirit has been telling me to find a church to go to". Anyways, the next morning, he calls, and begins talking about how he "is a pundit" for the gathering of Israel, and how he found what Nephi prophesied about the gathering of Israel very interesting ("Isaiah hints at this sort of stuff, but this Nephi character is very adamant"). He starts saying a whole bunch of scholarly sounding things that we weren't even following. We weren't even sure if he thought it was good or bad or not. But, at the end, he was like, "when was this book written?" And we told him it was translated in the 1830s. He was floored. He told us that he couldn't believe how many years ahead of its time the Book of Mormon was, and how there was only one other religious group that he knew of that also correctly predicted whatever aspects of the gathering of Israel that Nephi was talking about. And now, he wants to be baptized! We were just relieved that he liked whatever it was that he was talking about. Pretty awesome stuff.

Well, the church is true and the book is blue! I'm just getting booted off of my computer at the library, but have a great week, everyone!

Elder Blotter

Things are getting a little chilly in Burns Lake.

 

Well hello!

It's been another great week up here in Burns Lake, and down South (well, still up North for you people) in the lower mainland during the middle of the week! I had numerous experiences that I won't forget. It's definitely starting to get colder! We went tracting in a few inches of snow, but fortunately most of it melted when we were out of the area. It was -7 degrees outside (In Celsius, so not too bad) when we drove to church yesterday. If I don't get transferred out of here next time calls roll around, I might have to have some warmer clothes! Either way, it's going to be an adventure. We have to get creative sometimes doing missionary work in the North. Up here when it gets colder, we have to take golf balls when knocking doors, so that you can hear the knock even though we are wearing gloves.

It was a monumental week for the Burns Lake elders! Vanessa Jack's baptism was amazing. We were a little worried at first, because the font was so underused that the only water that came out of the spigot was a murky greenish brown. After a while of leaving the water on, it turned into... a less murky (but still distinct) greenish brown. But Vanessa was so excited that she wasn't put off by it at all! She was just really excited. During the service, she bore her testimony about the Holy Ghost and it was incredibly powerful. It has been such a blessing to see the gospel of Jesus Christ really change her life. Before her baptismal interview, she confessed that she ate half a granola bar before she realized that it had mocha in it, and she was so stressed that it would push back her baptismal date, and she kept on asking me if I had invited all of our investigators to come see her baptism. She's that kind of a person. The Spirit was present the entire time during the service. You can feel the Spirit SO strongly when you are in the font, and it was such a sacred experience to be able to baptize her.

I absolutely adore Vanessa's 2 year old daughter, Gemma Rose. (She can't really say anything except "uh oh" whenever she sees a ripped page of a book or something like that, but she totally said my name while Elder Aldred was interviewing Vanessa. Brother Moore heard it. He can vouch for me.) It is so amazing to see how the gospel has affected how Vanessa views being a parent. Alcoholism and immorality, which is really prevalent in the culture of a lot of the single mothers in this area, won't even be a concern for Gemma. I am SO happy about that. SO happy. You have no idea.

Well, I had a lot of eye opening experiences down South, as well! We stayed the night with the elders that are currently working in Surrey, an urban area not too far from Vancouver. Wow. Burns Lake has 9 avenues. 2nd Ave has... I think 2 houses on it. Their area covers the first hundreds of streets with ritzy apartment complexes and trailer parks and everything in between. We went street contacting and there were people everywhere! It made me glad that I was trained in the North, where everybody is a stereotypically laid back, polite Canadian! The first person I walked up to, with a big ol' smile on my face, cussed me out and told me I was being "way too pushy". Ha ha, it's a bit of a different pace in different areas. That is something to get used to. Burns Lake really hasn't been too wet. I think it's rained maybe 6 or 7 times since I got there, and never enough for it to really get in the way of the work. Down there it was POURING. We left our raincoats in the truck in Terrace, so we went out in regular suit jackets and we got soaked straight through. It was awesome.

I also had the opportunity to hear quite a bit from one of the Seventies, Elder Haleck. He shared many powerful and sacred experiences from his time as a mission president, and it was awesome. President Tilleman is totally going to become a general authority after his time as a mission president. He's nearly doubling the number of baptisms as compared to before his time here, and the mission he presides over is exactly obedient. He's very inspired. Anyways, Elder Haleck talked a lot about how to work with wards and branch councils, how we have the obligation to remain active after we return from our missions, and he bore a special witness about how the prophet is receiving revelation to "hasten the work". The Lord is hastening His work of gathering His sheep, and it is such a privilege to be a missionary at this time. Miracles are happening, and angels are preparing the hearts of people to hear us. It is a blessing to be here. Today I got many letters from girls all talking about how they are planning on serving now. (With return addresses like "Future Sister Pack" and "The Happiest Girl in the World") President Tilleman says that he is requesting to double the number of missionaries he gets each transfer. It's an exciting time! The Lord is expecting a lot from His missionaries, and He deserves it.

Hope all is well at home! Have a great week.

Elder Blotter

PS- I forgot to mention it last time, but the Library changed its hours so it is now open on Monday, so I'll probably always be using computers on Monday from now on. *cough cough*. :)