Fall Strikes the North.

Here is Elder Blotter with the Syphus Family. Sis. Syphus has a food blog and is a wonderful cook. She fed the missionaries almost every week. They were from Arizona but working in Kitimat for a year.

Family,

Well, hello, everyone. It's been a cold and wet week up here in Kitimat! Either it's just a cold spell, or somebody upstairs must have flipped the switch, because the last weeks have been hot, and now there's a little nip in the air. The missionaries from Prince Rupert came to Kitimat for exchanges this week, and so me and another elder were on bikes in the pouring rain. Probably a good experience, because missionaries with vehicles probably get a little bit soft. Not exactly the most fun, but it was good in that even if people will close the door on us before we get the chance to say anything, at least they have to acknowledge that we're sincere enough about what we're doing to go and get wet for it.

Anyways! It was a good week this week. We had a pretty intense Canadian service project with some members that I am still sore from. we drove off into the bush/rainforest (Kitimat really is a rainforest based on how much it rains. There are frogs just jumping around on the streets and sidewalks. That's unimaginable in Utah) on sketchy logging roads and chainsawed trees down, chained them and pulled them into clearings, and then cut and split the wood and loaded it into trucks. BC has more trees than it knows what to do with. It's literally a jungle out there. But, since wood is only as expensive as the time it takes you to go and get some, most people have wood stoves in their homes because it's a lot cheaper than a gas furnace.

The work is going well in Kitimat, though! We're working with some interesting people. Heavenly Father has some diverse children. I might have mentioned Cam before. He's interesting because he has read very heavily into this researcher who studies psychology and human reaction. Apparently, if you have people hold out their arm and make a statement while trying to push their arm down, the way that they react indicates if it's true or not. So if you were 30 years old, and somebody had you hold your arm out and said "You are 31" while pushing down on your arm, it would go limp, but if they said your correct age you would naturally keep your arm up and resist the pressure because it's a natural way your body reacts to things that are true or good for your mental health or something like that. And the vast majority of people have that positive reaction when told that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God", and so because of that, he believes that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, because if it wasn't true, it wouldn't have that influence and "resonate" with so many people. And he isn't "this is my excuse to my scientist friends why I'm Christian", this is "I really don't know how it's possible, but apparently Jesus Christ really is the Son of God. How about that?" Which is pretty cool the different ways that the Lord can lead people to finding faith in him, but it's just a stepping stone to developing sincere faith with deeper roots.

 And then we're teaching Ed, this older guy who has very fiery opinions about everything because all he does is watch documentaries. He insists that if he got a few hundred dollars more a month from welfare, he could get back on his feet and start contributing to society. Then we found out from some members that he's also addicted to crack, so... you know.

And then we're teaching people like James. James is this solid individual who has a million questions about everything, and is a little bit slow, but is really hungry to find truth. He'll read the Book of Mormon, and then he'll re-read the same pages a few times just so that he can understand it. It's troopers like that that make you glad to be on a mission. It's interesting to be on a mission, because you just see the inside of people's houses and into people's lives that you just wouldn't otherwise. It's pretty cool.

Well, it's transfers this week again. After 3 transfers, there is definitely going to be a change in Kitimat. The general consensus that will probably be wrong (just because the general consensus is usually wrong) is that I'm going to leave and Elder Atwood is going to stay and train a new missionary. Either way, it should be a pretty exciting week!

Good to hear from you all, and I hope that you have a good week!

Elder Blotter

Another week has gone by in Kitimat...

Well hello!

Just like that, it's been another week in Kitimat. Well, it's been a week everywhere. But in my world, it's just been a week in Kitimat.Life has been good, though! The work has been moving forward in Kitimat, and we've been blessed. It's also finally getting dark at 10:30, so it doesn't feel like it's eternally daytime because you're sleeping during the few hours of darkness. Can't complain.

This week, we had a pretty awesome miracle at the end of one of our dinner appointments at the Syphus home. (Mother D, do you look at her food blog? If so, you should try to make the fluffy brown sugar icing. It's called something like that. Apparently it's pretty popular, and she found the recipe from Sis. Bonnell, who is a widow in the branch whose attic we have been cleaning because she's planning on moving soon. Sis. Bonnell was pretty happy that it became popular.) We were just wrapping up our spiritual thought and were about to leave, when there was a knock at the door. It was Ron, who was apparently someone who Sis. Syphus wasn't necessarily friends with, but they always would run into each other around town and their kids were friends from school. So, his father in law had just died, and his wife was at work trying to finish her shift, and he said that he was having a really hard time with it and just didn't know where to go. So... he "randomly" just felt like he should go to the Syphus home. Right when we were there. As we were leaving, we talked to him about what we do as missionaries and invited him to meet with us, and he said that him and his wife would be "very interested". It's a miracle how they've been prepared. They aren't very religious, but they have faith in God, and apparently the members of the church in Terrace did a lot of nice things for them, so they have a high opinion of the church. And now, in this time of need, they are ready for the gospel. It's very cool to see how God prepares people and then puts them in your path. All of the variables that need to be in place for that to happen really are too great for that to just be some coincidence.

In areas they keep track of how many lessons you teach each week, and if you look in the history of really small areas you can tell that missionaries get into death spirals where they don't have anybody to teach, there aren't a lot of members to do member work with, so they're left with nothing to do but tract all day. And there aren't that many doors to knock, and so you're left visiting the same people over and over again, who, if not given enough time between visits, can start to get annoyed, and so the missionaries get discouraged and... well. It's not productive. And so it's very cool to see that if you have faith and work hard, you don't get into death spirals. God puts people in your path, and you will have people to teach. And even in this little area, we keep on finding new people to talk to.

We had some other miracles in the work, as well. One former investigator we talked to when we first got into the area, but he wasn't ready to meet with missionaries, so we put him back in the reflecting pool. After a few months, we dropped by, at a good discussion about agency and 2 Nephi 2 and now he's promised to sincerely find out if the Book of Mormon is true. He's the guy who is satisfied with his Anglican beliefs, but "doesn't want to be like the Jews who didn't think that Jesus Christ had anything to offer them, so I keep meeting with you guys". We also found a less active guy, Tom, who was baptized in Langley many years ago, and doesn't remember too much about what we believe. But he's retired and alone, and looking for something more in his life. Conveniently a few months ago, he started living the Word of Wisdom again because he was out of cigarettes when all the stores were closed and he started looking for butts in ashtrays to try to use to get a nicotine fix. He took a step back, said "I'm better than this" and quit. So he's been prepared to start coming back to church too! The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Missions are awesome. Too many experiences to pick from... one shirtless tattooed former drug dealer that we talked to on a more run-down street started talking to us about our faith, and then insisted on feeding us dinner. We told him we were going to be busy, but could come back when we had made some time to eat, and when we came back he was pounding steaks to tenderize them, and he made us this gourmet steak dinner. We ate it sitting on his front lawn as people walked by, kind of weirded out. Good times. The guy wasn't ready to hear our message, but the world is filled with good people!

Well, the church is true! We see miracles every day. It's good to hear that there's lots of exciting stuff at home. Is it really time for school to start already? No way. Jed; good luck at football! Jacey: keep tickling the ivories. You'll be a great pianist. Talk to you all next week!

Elder Blotter

Beautiful Kitimat

Life is good in Kitimat.

Family,

Well, it's been a good week in Kitimat! We couldn't email yesterday because the library was closed for BC Day. Otherwise known as "The Holiday we made so there was another 3 day weekend in August". We have finally managed to get our hands on some bikes, and so we've been riding around in style. For some reason, you feel so much more legitimate as a missionary on bikes. Not sure why. You'd think since dress pants tucked into socks isn't the most classy attire, it would be the other way around, but biking around is the way to be.

The people in the locked apartment buildings have previously managed to escape for the most part coming in contact with us, ever since we stopped street contacting in parking lots (after one of the managers of the SuperValu grocery store got mad at us. They came out right when a native was saying a prayer with us, too.) Now whenever they walk along the back sidewalks of Kitimat, they will have to live in fear that the Mormons will silently pull up behind them on bicycles and start teaching them the gospel. We love it. As I've probably described before, Kitimat has streets that just kind of swoosh all over the place, and they have sidewalks that just kind of cut through it all. And behind the houses, we've found all sorts of crazy things that we had no idea were there. Parks, swimming pools, all that sort of stuff. Who'd a thunk it?

Yesterday, we went on a bike down the road to Kitamaat Village, which goes along the Douglas Channel. Beautiful. You don't get beauty like that everywhere, that's for sure. Daniel Boyson had came with us, except after a few kilometers he puked and had his dad come and pick him up. It's a good thing he knows that the church is true. Brother Boyson has put us in the "Children that he spoils" category. Under the idea that they were building up a stash of things they could give as gifts when needed, they bought a ton of "stuff" in unopened packages. And then they decided it was just cluttering up their house, so they just gave it all to us. Probably $300 worth of dollar store "stuff". Everything from "Tool Band-its" (look that up on Google) to year's-supplies of bouncy balls. No idea what we're going to do with with. Probably think of object lessons... Otherwise, the Boysons are doing well! We just don't know what to think about Sister Boyson, because now she's invited us over for dinner. Hopefully her heart is softening.

But otherwise, the work in Kitimat is going very well! We're working with a native teen, a Portuguese couple, some Alcan employees, etc. Lots of people from different places live in Kitimat. It's kind of that time where we've been on every street too many times to remember how many times we've been on the street, but we still see miracles and still find new people every week. Yesterday we knocked on a door and taught a guy named Cam who had just never been home the previous times that we had knocked their door. When you work hard and have faith, you can find people to teach regardless of how few people live in your area.

The Kitimat Branch had 51 people in attendance this week! It's too big for the building that we have. This week, a lot of the Burns Lake clan were visiting for Boy's Camp. (They don't call it Scout Camp) It was awesome to be able to see that crew. An older couple from Logan is up here visiting for the fishing, too. I believe their names are Karen and Lee Johnson. They said they lived somewhere on the Island.

Well, the church is true! Hope that everybody has a good week and we'll talk to you all next Monday!

Elder Blotter

Hello Mother.

It was BC day, so no email til' tomorrow since the library was closed. Usually we end P-day early on days like today and then just email on the morning of the next day. We went to the chuch because it was open to upload pictures.

 

Love you dearly Mother Dearest.

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

It's been a good week in Kitimat.

Elder Blotter, Daniel Boyson and Elder Atwood

Well hello, everyone!

It's been a great week in Kitimat! Northern BC is the place to be in Kitimat. The highlight of the week this week was the baptism and confirmation of Daniel Boyson. It has been a very long road for the Boyson family, but to be able to see Daniel receive saving ordinances this weekend (and Chelsea is preparing to be baptized next week) was an absolute miracle, and a testimony that God answers prayers. Chelsea is being baptized next week because the Boyson family had a... funny way of getting around to communicate with each other. Daniel did not want to tell Chelsea that he had made the decision to be baptized because he didn't want to pressure her to be baptized. and when Chelsea found out that he WAS being baptized, she was quite peeved because she has always wanted to be baptized, and was just waiting for him to come around. And neither of them told their Mom when they were getting baptized, "because they thought that she would have to work or something". And so she shows up after the ordinance, because nobody told her when it was at. When she DID come, she just hugged Daniel and told him she was proud of him. In the end, it was a beautiful service, though. On the day of his confirmation, we took Daniel with us to visit a few people. We've been talking about serving a mission, and we're pretty confident that he is going to serve one, which is exciting! (I managed to find both camera and charger. I attached a picture of us with Daniel and with Brother Boyson, Daniel's dad. Yes, Daniel did wear a Mountain Dew T-shirt and dress pants to his baptism. Yes, we did suggest that for pictures sake he get a shirt and tie. No, we were not able to successfully convince him to do so.)

Otherwise, it was a good week in Kitimat! We found a very cool hybrid Catholic/Presbyterian family this week that we've started teaching. Matthew and Nicola. They grew up near a Mormon family, and just from their positive example years ago, they have a very positive perception of the church. The kind of lifestyles that we live really do make a difference in the long run. We knocked on the door as they were watching family videos, and they had just decided to make a new one. So, in any case, they will forever have documentation of a good part of the message of the Restoration in their family videos. When we first came to Kitimat, we had a "discussion" of sorts with some JW's. The husband and wife were not very open, but they had a nephew visiting from Portugal who was very cool. Unfortunately, he was planning on getting married back in Portugal and left after we met him. A week or so ago, we tracted into this lady who tried to let us right in, saying she moved straight from Portugal, and, because we can't teach females by themselves, we set up a time we could come back with somebody else. When we came back, lo and behold, it was Alex, the nephew from Portugal! And they are both open, so now we can teach them and do so in a more hospitable environment. That's a miracle!

This week we also had the chance to go to Prince Rupert for an exchange. Prince Rupert is directly on the coast, and it feels pretty much like California meets First Nations Reserve. The exchange was one of those times you feel like you are having too much fun to be on a mission, because the drive there is probably the most beautiful drive on the planet and me and Elder Busby, the missionary I was serving with in Rupert, were on bikes, and so we just biked around and talked to people in the sunshine all day. We had the chance to teach a very cool couple, Mary Jane and Clyde, who had just moved off the reserve into town. Mary Jane had some people come to the door offering her Bibles, and since she had just moved, she was looking for a church. She was in the process of praying and asking God which of all the Bibles was His book, and boom. The missionaries knock on her door. She took that as an answer, and now they are both meeting with the missionaries in Prince Rupert.

Well, in any case, it sounds like life at home is going great! That's good to hear. Enjoy the summer. I can just tell that Jed is going to be a good football player. I would not want to be a lineman across from him! Keep Kitimat in your prayers! I'll talk to you all next week.

Elder Blotter

Kitimat

Well hello,

It's been another really great week up in Northern BC! It's kind of weird, but in another transfer or two I will have spent a year up in the Terrace Zone. I just count myself lucky to be considered a "North missionary". It's awesome up here. Elder Atwood and I survived transfers and will be going on round 3. President Tilleman told us that he knew we had some "unfinished business" with some of our investigators here and so he left us together. Which, we did certainly!

Well, the work in Kitimat is moving forward. Daniel Boyson finally talked to his mom about how he wants to be baptized, and she's going to be supportive if it's what he wants. So... although it's been delayed for a while, we've set a baptismal date for this Saturday. We've been meeting with them almost daily for a long time to help them get to this point. But... it's worth it to be able to see them accept saving ordinances! There have definitely been miracles helping out the Boyson family. It's definitely been good; because we're over there quite frequently, Brother Boyson trusts us enough to open up about his concerns about his family in the church. He's been less active for a while because of some issues with family back in Alberta, and he's been starting to change as well and forgive and move on. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and it really does help people heal. It's a blessing to be able to see it.

God certainly does have a hand in missionary work, though. One recent convert from another small BC town (Merrit) recently moved to Kitimat, and it turns out that she is related to Samantha and knows her. Having friends or family that can help support somebody to make the sometimes difficult changes that are required to join the church is crucial, and so it's very cool to see the Lord provide that kind of support. Another one of our investigators, Sean (who is Irish) has a member friend from Scotland that is going to be in Kitimat for a month, and so we can meet with them together as well. Small world.

Other than that, the week has pretty much consisted of just pounding the pavement to find new investigators, rain or shine. (You get a lot of both, in Kitimat) The people in Kitimat talk up how well designed the city is (we still think it's ridiculously goofy compared to a grid system, but... hey. Canadians) because it was a "planned city" created by Clarence Stein, who also apparently designed 7 other twin cities in the United States. The layout might be nice for Joe Shmo, but the way it's designed makes it so it's harder to find people to teach. There isn't a busy street to try street contacting, because all of the stores are clumped together in a mall-type thing, and there aren't any parks or open places to talk to people at, because Kitimat has a ton of parks just kind of scattered around in green areas behind the houses and so because there are so many, it feels like there aren't any people at any of them. So, to keep finding people, you kind of have to keep thinking creatively. One weekday morning we knocked on half of an entire street without a single person coming to the door. We thought to ourselves "Man... We could be painting our toenails as far as how effective our time is being spent right now." And so we ended up mowing the lawns of a Sikh lady, a grandma, and one of our former investigators. Planting seeds!

But at the end of the day, it's a small town, but we're still finding new faces to teach. The other day, we talked to a young woman, Heather, who wasn't raised religious, but wants to experiment with faith, and was curious about what we believed. Today, we'll probably find somebody else! God keeps on preparing people, and we keep bumping into them somehow. The church is true!

Well, I hope everybody has a great week! I keep you all in my prayers and I hope that you keep Kitimat in your prayers as well. Looks like you're having a good summer and I hope it stays that way!

Love,

Elder Blotter

It's July in Kitimat

Well, hello, Family!

It has been a good week in Kitimat. It's been hot, though! High 20's might not sound hot to Utahns. But it is! Other than that, life's been good! Since Kitimat is close to the ocean, a lot of people give us fish and prawns and stuff like that, and so I'm learning how to prepare and cook seafood. Haven't died yet... Transfer calls are today, but we have a hunch that neither of us are leaving, because President Tilleman called us this morning to talk about getting an interview for Samantha and didn't mention anything about a potential transfer... so we think we're safe. But only time will tell.

We've seen a lot of miracles this week, however! We've been working with the Boyson family for a few months now, and they've certainly come a long way. They'd never been to church, and now they're weekly attendees, Sister Boyson got annoyed at us the first time for not calling ahead when we came by for the weekly lesson the last missionaries would have on Friday, and slowly they've adjusted so that we teach them several times a week and usually have daily contact. But, they've been dragging their feet about baptism, and it seemed like they might become one of those part member families with like 6 sheets of teaching records in the area book. But lo and behold, this week, Daniel Boyson asked to meet with President Kaberry and ourselves after church, where he confided that he had received an answer to his prayers. He said that he had done what we had been telling him to do every day for weeks and he prayed and asked if he should be baptized. He said that that night he saw a dream where he was baptized, and he saw sins that he had committed in the past being washed away, and a tree that he said is kind of like the tree of life in Lehi's vision. He says he's seen that tree in dreams in the past when his mom has wanted him to be baptized into other churches, but in the dream the tree always dies by the end of the dream. In any case, it was a very cool experience, and since Chelsea (11 yrs old) has been more or less just waiting for Daniel (17), they will be baptized in the next two weeks. Miracles happen. It's definitely an example that if an investigator is attending church, reading the Book of Mormon, and praying, they will eventually get an answer that it is true, even if it takes a while.

We had another lessons with Jim Johnson this week. I'm not sure if I mentioned him before, but he's an older gentleman that has kind of been everything from atheist in a biker gang to Satanist (he's described some... pretty weird things that they do. Probably 'nuff said in this situation) to Jehovah's Witness to Pentecostal. He's a scriptorian. It's been about a month since we stopped meeting with him. He received a lot of unfavorable material from his pastor, and we resolved most of it, but he has a few things that he decided to hold on to. But, he was talking about how he loves the way that as missionaries we teach people, compared to how other faiths proselyte. He had a hard time describing it, but he meant that we "have the Spirit".  In short, he's still reading the Book of Mormon and is about halfway through it, and we just have a feeling that he's going to realize it's true as he reads it. You really come to appreciate the Book of Mormon on your mission. Not only does it really contain a witness of Christ and a solid foundation of true doctrine, but it really helps people receive revelation and ultimately come unto Christ. It really is a blessing. God is good.

The work in Kitimat is doing well, though. It's a small town, and we've already knocked every street a few times, but we're still finding people to talk to. It's good to be in small areas, because when half of Vancouver is your area, you can almost get lazy in finding because if somebody says they're not interested, it's kind of silly to force a conversation with them when an ocean of other people are walking past, but in Kitimat, you have to seize every finding opportunity as a chance to teach and testify and invite the Spirit. It's easier to erase the imaginary line between "finding" and "teaching" and you are just always teaching people on their doorsteps and inviting them to hear more. The worst thing is when you know somebody is feeling the Spirit, but they still choose to reject the message you're sharing. Gah! People's agency, sometimes. Still, enough people are interested to have a lot of interesting conversations in Kitimat. There are Jamaicans, Irish, Canadians, probably an American or two, and some First Nations people in the teaching pool. You can tell from the area book that this area has kind of been a "refiner's fire" area, but to me an Elder Atwood, it really hasn't been too rough here. It's bigger than Burns Lake! We have certainly been blessed.

In short, if I am transferred, I'd be sad! The North is the place to be. The members in the branches up here are just awesome. We'll just drop by a member family just to ask a quick question, and they'll end up feeding us dinner. (We'll have to start coming up with more valid sounding questions...) But, the church is true. Miracles are happening in Kitimat! And I hope that you all have a good week, and enjoy your summer. Talk to you next week!

Elder Blotter

Kitimat is Bear Country...

Over halfway through, I'm starting a BLOG..... July 2nd, 2013

  I have many friends who have started a blog when their son or daughter have left on missions. People can check in when they have time to read and when the missionary comes home, you can easily make their letters into a book! Sounds great, huh?  So as I have time I will enter earlier letters. Now that Josh has been gone 1 year, 3 weeks and a day... I can say that it is WONDERFUL. It is a highlight for us to get his weekly e-mails and hear all about his mission. He is an amazing Elder and is working so hard and bringing others unto Christ. We love him.   :)

Family,

Well, sorry we couldn't email yesterday! Since it was Canada Day, all the libraries and things like that were closed. Since I was just finishing my time at the MTC during last year's Canada Day, this was the one and only "real" Canada Day that I'll have on my mission. Pretty much, Canada Day is like the 4th of July, except without the color blue and with the fireworks display too late for kids to stay up because the average Canadian bedtime for kids up here is seriously like 7:30 pm (you have it good, Jed and Jacey) and it doesn't start getting dark nowadays until after 11:00. But it was a fun day! They had a little parade and everything.

But, life is good in Kitimat! We're working with a lot of awesome people. Kitimat is a very diverse town because of the wide range of skill sets needed for the different companies that work here, and so they'll bring people who have those skills in from all over the world. Our branch president is an Australian, for example, and kind of a character. The other day we were let inside a home of "Wolf and Rani". Wolf is a German with a heavy accent, and Rani is an East Indian with a heavy accent. They both wear the clothes from their native countries, and seem to be worlds different, but they've been married for like 40 years or something like that. There are lots of Europeans and Asians. We've befriend the Asian guy, "Bill" who owns the Subway here, and he usually gives me a free cookie.  Kitimat is a great place. It's weird that we've been here for almost 3 months.

We've seen a lot of miracles in the past week as well. We're always looking for new people to teach, and we're promised that angels are preparing people and "declaring it to many". The other day, we were leaving a corner store, and the girl behind the register called to us and said that she had recently been in an accident and rolled and destroyed the van she was in, but she walked away perfectly fine. We had talked to her mom recently, and given her a pamphlet and apparently talked about how Jesus Christ can save us. Her mom is now convinced that the reason that she was okay was because of Jesus Christ and because of that pamphlet in the car. You know, we can't really see all the ways that Heavenly Father is preparing people to be taught, but He certainly is, and this is certainly His work.

We're still working closely with a lot of awesome people. The Boysons are still coming along, and Samantha is doing great. You know, we even take for granted that we know what's right and what's wrong. Samantha is 23 and has never really had a very strong religious background, and so she is just full of questions about what's okay and what isn't okay, because she wants to know what God wants her to do. We really are blessed to be in a position to know what commandments God wants us to follow, and to know how we can return and live with Him in our families. We really are a blessed people. We usually just take that for granted! We're so blessed to have a prophet to help us know what we need to do to be happy. The church is true!

And mother, Elder Atwood is awesome. You're right, I usually don't say too much about my companions. He is a world different from Elder Holtby! He is a hard worker and becoming a great missionary. We joke around a lot and have a great time in Kitimat. We had quite different interests/jobs back home (he made airbags in Brigham City and did mixed martial arts, wants to join the army and eventually become a federal marshal) but we aren't too different. Random thing that we do... we have some dry erase markers in the bathroom, and each time we use it, we draw something else on the mirror before we leave, so after a while we have quite the masterpiece. Good times.

Well, I hope that everybody has another good week! Trek and the trip looked like it was a lot of fun. Congratulations on your ace medical terminology work, Jenessa. That's quite the accomplishment. Hope that everybody has a great week!

Elder Blotter

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

Greetings from the "Pacific Inland Coast"

Well!

It was a great week in Kitimat! Life is good. It's starting to get hot up here, finally. We used to wear short sleeves one day, and a coat the next, but it's finally getting warm. When I flew up to Burns Lake straight from Utah summer, when everyone was complaining about the heat, I thought it felt great, but a year in Canada has made me grow soft. Any hotter than 25 degrees (whatever that is in Fahrenheit...) is just too much. But, we're finding and teaching, (and hopefully baptizing this weekend) so we can't complain.

This week has been an interesting one. We finally were able to get Samantha and Wilfred (commonly referred to as Samfred), a young first nations couple, to church, and they loved it. Which is awesome, because we were teaching the Sunday School lesson and took the opportunity to teach the Word of Wisdom to them. And Samantha liked Relief Society even though that usually consists of one of the people who usually teach in Primary or Young Womens sitting down for some "one on one" time with whoever comes. Because the branch is pretty much all young families, it takes all of the sisters to handle teaching. It's also kind of awkward because for Sunday School, all of the women and children suddenly go downstairs after Sacrament meeting, so if we have female investigators, they are suddenly left in a room full of men. (Yeah. You kind of have to figure these things out.) In any case, the member who gave them a ride home and hit and killed somebody's family dog en route (of course that would happen...), but they still want to come back, so they must have liked it.

The Boysons are probably going to be baptized this weekend! It's taken some excessive missionary effort to get them to continue to progress because the mom isn't a member and not the biggest fan, but all things are looking good. We're following up today to be sure.

I had some interesting experiences this week, though. In one instance, this angsty semi-intoxicated Canadian cussed off of his porch, but, probably because he's Canadian, he felt bad and came out and tried to apologize to us. We had a brief conversation with him, and he basically expressed his belief that we were wasting our time because we're annoying and everyone just yells at us. We told him that it's very rare for people to treat us like he did, and he didn't believe us. So he decided to come tracting with us to see what it was like. Yep. We were just kind of followed around by this potbellied Canadian while we went finding. If it ended up that he got baptized as a result, President Monson would no doubt tell that story next Conference, but in the end, he just got bored when nobody else got mad at us and went home, so it probably won't be retold. But still.

The other experience was with one of our former investigators, a JW Portuguese family. Kitimat has a huge Portuguese population for some reason, and most of them are from the Azores, (which is where Heidi Fillmore lived for a while). But anyways, they usually were pretty stiff around us, but were slightly intoxicated and so were a bit more friendly. They actually fed us dinner, some Portuguese bean and sausage dish, and as we ate they sort of boasted about the different programs and things offered by their church. It really got me thinking about how blessed we are. "Oh, you guys meet together and hold conventions where you act about Bible dramas (pronounced dra-ma not drah-ma)? Very cool. We have a prophet and authority from God to act in His name to save His children." But really, all comparisons aside, it got me thinking that Heavenly Father would be quite sad if the people in His only true and living church didn't appreciate everything that we have, and make the most of it. We are blessed with so much. It really is astounding. We should do things like go to the Temple, prepare awesome lessons for classes we're teaching, etc.

The church is true! But, it sounds like it was a good week. Have a good next week, family!

Elder Blotter

Elder Atwood and Elder Blotter on a P day.

Kitimat Report

Family,

 

Well! It looks like there were some fun times had in Florida this past week. Ha ha... the car made me laugh.

 

There were 3 experiences that we had in the 'Mat that made me ponder a bit over the past week that I want to share. The first was with a front-toothless man named Aloyes (probably Portuguese) in his fifties and who apparently has a chest and aorta full of tumors. I'm sure that Dad would have understood whatever condition he's in, but apparently they aren't malignant, but he still doesn't have too much longer to live. (As a sidenote, because of the healthcare system, he doesn't have the option of paying for treatment. All he gets are some painkillers.) The JW's ripped him off of his life savings when his wife died, and so he is very skeptical of organized religion, and he's done some research and has questions about if the Bible is legitimate. But at the same time, religion and spirituality has been an issue that's pressed on his mind lately because, well, for him, death is kind of imminent. We've taught him a few times about the Plan of Salvation. He admits that he loves talking with us, but he has a really big barrier to developing any kind of faith. But we'll see. We have high hopes for Aloyes.

 

The second was with a 20 year old native named Fred. It was pretty cool how we managed to find him, but long story short we were led to his door and he let us in. We taught the message of the Restoration, and the Spirit was very strong. At one point he was in tears. BUT, wouldn't you know it, right as he was about to say a closing prayer, the rest of his family walked in the front door. And it became very apparent that his family wasn't too big a fan of walking in and seeing some Mormons on their couch. We wrapped it up pretty quickly and left. We were given his cell phone number, but it's been a few days and he hasn't responded to calls or texts. But he knows it's true! It's interesting the trials of faith that each of us are called to go through. For some people, it seems to be a challenge acting on the witness that they have received, and for others, it's a challenge to receive a witness in the first place.

 

Finally, I don't remember if you guys remember Norma. I'm not sure if I talked about her too much. She's the toothless, 300+ pound, 5 foot tall old First Nations lady from Vancouver that literally is almost dead. Every week she would have stories about how doctors wanted her to take surgeries that would give her a 50% chance of survival and how she didn't want to take them. In any case, at some point much earlier in her life, she had met with missionaries and was going to be baptized in Vancouver, but the police required her to move because her abusive boyfriend was out to get her, and so she never got baptized. Many years down the road, Elder Smith and I talked to her as we were waiting for our bus to come, and then Elder Holtby and I taught her all of the lessons. We had lots of cool experiences, like a priesthood blessing that healed her of an addiction to coffee, etc... And then, the week before her baptism, her landlord gave her the boot and she had to move to Surrey. We just gave her teaching record to the missionaries there and they managed to get in contact with her, and just this past week she got baptized there! A senior couple missionary called and gave me the chance to talk to her, and she just kept on saying how happy she was. It was a miracle. The church is true.

 

It's cool to see how the Lord has a plan for each one of us! Our walk on this earth isn't supposed to be an easy one, but it's certainly a worthwhile one, and it's very cool to see how everything works out in the end. But life is good in Kitimat! There's a lot of stuff going on, which is the way that we like it. I hope that you all have a great week this week! And Jacey can have that old iPod. I wondered where on Earth that thing went. I knew it fell down there somewhere, but I never could find it. Ha ha...

 

Elder Blotter

Kitimat.....

Family,

Well. It's been another great week up in the North! It was transfer week, and since all the new missionaries go down to the meeting after their first transfer, we were going to fly down to the lower mainland, but one of the missionaries from Prince Rupert forgot to bring photo ID (and his suitcase, for that matter), and so they wouldn't let him get on the plane. Long story and quite a fuss at the airport later, I just volunteered to stay with Elder Forgetful and work in Kitimat during the transfer meeting. We ended up being rained on all day, BUT we found another pretty awesome family, which just kind of goes to show the simple truth that the best missionary work happens most of the time under... less-than-ideal circumstances.

It's taken me a while to get here, but over the course of my mission I've kind of come to a point where I don't really get too put out about rough times, because, well. I know this is God's work, and if I'm doing everything that I can, then whatever happens is God's intention, even if it is nothing more than a trial of our faith (1 Peter 1:7) (Elder Atwood would probably say that's a lie based on how worked up I can get in the fifteen minutes before church starts). Same thing with rules. In the mission, President Tilleman has asked us to not eat meals between 5-7 pm, because that's "prime finding time". We're also commanded to do things like not teach someone of the opposite gender without another male present. Some people just get put out and say things like "we could teach and baptize more people if we didn't need members present at lessons". That's so dumb. 1) you couldn't, and 2) This is the Lord's work, and if the Lord doesn't want you to teach single sisters, then that's His call. President Tilleman has a line he says, "Obedience is more important than sacrifice and baptisms". But I digress!

This Sunday, President Kaberry and Brother Van Horne were both gone for a branch conference in Smithers, and so that left Brother Streeter to conduct the meeting. It's pretty impressive to go from having no church experience to conducting Sacrament meeting in a year. The members up here are awesome. But... it was my turn to teach Priesthood this Sunday, and then Brother Van Horne called us in the morning to ask us to teach Sunday School since he wouldn't be there, and since the manual for Sunday School was at the church, we didn't really have any time to correlate or plan a lesson, so it kind of turned into one of those situations where one person talks a lot more than the other because neither person really knows what's going on. So church this Sunday kind of consisted of Elder Blotter talking for a long time in a mostly empty room, since most people were gone or in the nursery/primary/etc. Ha ha. Branches really are awesome, though. And Elder Atwood and I pulled it together by Priesthood meeting and had a good discussion on families. The Boyson family was there, and despite all their quirks, they really fit well together as a family, and it had been awesome to see how preparing to be baptized has drawn that family closer together. The church is true.

Well! Sounds like everyone had a good week. Congratulations on graduating, Ness! (I initially typed "getting baptized" and had to delete and change it to graduating) Hear from you next week!

Elder Blotter

Northern BC...The Promised Land.

Well!

 

It's been another great week up in Kitimat! Lots of good stuff is happening. Everything is green. Isn't raining as much. Really, there's nothing to complain about! When you're transferred up North, you have to pay about $125 to good ol' Air Canada for checking an extra bag and for overweight fees, which is well over half our monthly allotment, so we've been having to make do eating a lot of perogies and pancakes, cause they're cheap. Perogies probably taste pretty close to manna, so we're not complaining. I still don't know why America doesn't have those.

 

Sometimes in missionary work it feels like you're blessed not "because of" but "in spite of" your best efforts. We go out every day and pound the pavement and knock doors and try to shake it up by street contacting in parking lots, because everywhere else is pretty devoid of people to talk to. But... in the end, most of the best people that you spend the most time working with kind of come to you. There was this first nations lady (Samantha) sitting outside of the apartment building neighboring ours the very first day, and we talked to her and got her phone number before we even went into our apartment for the first time. We joked around that she was going to be our first baptism, and we finally met with her this past week. Her boyfriend (Wilfred) was at her apartment when we first arrived, and as he was leaving, I invited him to stay to listen to us share a message about Jesus Christ. He kind of shrugged and sat down with a "oh, what the heck" kind of attitude, and as we shared the message of the Restoration, he just loved it. We set baptismal dates with both of them for June 22nd. We came back the next day and taught them again, and they're awesome. They want to get married and baptized on the same day.

 

Meanwhile, we also set baptismal dates (for the 22nd) with the Boyson kids, and we're totally in the good books with Sister Boyson. Sister Boyson a few months ago was very anti-missionary, but she's warming right up. Quite a quirky bunch, but we love them none the less. BUT... this Sunday, with some sad turns of events, neither of them was able to come to church. Gah! But just as we were in the throes of devastation outside of their apartment, Sister Van Horne, a member who came to pick up Samfred, (our name for Samantha and Wilfred) asked us about "who the Justine lady at the church" was. And... we had no idea. But it turns out, that a young family from Kitimat spent a few months in Alberta to take some kind of a training course for the dad's occupation. While there, they talked to this LDS guy about what we believe, and they loved it. So this woman, Justine, had no idea when church started. So she left her husband, Aaron, with their kids and came to the church every half an hour starting at 8:00, until 10:00, when church starts. And we're meeting with them, now, too. And... she's 20. MY AGE. Quite weird to think that somebody my age could be a parent of 2 children. But that's beside the point. Now there's 3 awesome families in the teaching pool. Lots of awesome miracles in Kitimat! And really... the church is going to have to build a new building. The one that we are currently in is getting a little cramped.

 

It really is miraculous the number of people that we have been able to find and teach in Kitimat so far. The Lord has truly blessed us in the work here. The church is true! There are a lot of fiercely religious people in Kitimat, and we've had the chance to talk to a lot of them. The bottom line is that what we believe is true. It's good. It's from God. It's better. People just don't know what we believe! They don't know how awesome it is! They hear "Book of Mormon" and they don't think "beautiful account of Jesus Christ in America" they think "weird cult book". How awesome it is to be able to share the gospel with people and to be able to open people's eyes to divine truth.

 

And may each of you, in whatever position you're in, have the courage to open your mouthes when the opportunity arises to talk about the gospel! It can make a huge difference. Some random LDS guy talked about it with one of his classmates, and a seed was planted. Who knows what will happen with the von Schleinitzes (yep. That's their name), but what a miracle that that family is now! Even in Mormontown, USA, we're probably placed in situations like that all the time, we just don't notice it.

 

Hopefully you all have a great week! Talk to you then,

 

Love,

Elder Blotter

 

PS- We totally saw a grizzly bear in town the other day when we were out tracting! It was across a ravine from us, but it was big! It was the first one we've seen. We think God protects us, because we hear a lot of stories of grizzly bears "getting" people's pet dogs, but we've never run into any. But this is bear country. Our P-day tradition is to email and then to eat at Subway, and although I haven't seen it, apparently there is a clip online somewhere of a bear going into that very Subway, scaring an employee, and then leaving. Apparently it was on Jay Leno or something like that.

The Church is still true in Kitimat!

Home Sweet Home in Kitimat.

Family,

Well, it's been a great week in Kitimat! There have been a lot of miracles. Wendy was baptized back in Vancouver East, which is awesome. Her boyfriend from Minnesota flew up to baptize her. Wendy is a really awesome lady. She had a bunch of powerful experiences as she was being taught. At one point, she had an issue with tithing. She didn't think she could afford to give that amount of money to the church and still cover her living expenses. The next day, her employer told her that since she was moving to California, they would give her the amount they had saved for her in a retirement account. Her employer automatically took 10% of her income and saved it in an account that was given to them at their retirement. She had no idea, but she was already living with a tithed income, and she took that as an answer to her prayers. The church is true!

 Meanwhile, in Kitimat, the Boyson family finally came to church! The Boyson family is a part-member family that missionaries have been working with since the dawn of time (or at least since the missionaries in Terrace started working in Kitimat). The whole family is kind of quirky, and on days we teach lessons in their home, we shower in the evening before we go to bed because it's (almost literally) a jungle inside their home. But they're awesome. Brother Boyson feels like he's been wronged by a brother who has a prominent church calling in Alberta, and so he's been less active and none of his family members are members. We started working with them when we arrived in Kitimat, and finally they came to church, and they really enjoyed it, too. It's awesome to work with part member families. We're expecting some miracles with that family.

Other than that, life has been good! We've pretty much knocked every door in Kitimat, and most of Kitamaat Village, the reserve about 15 km out of town. We're preparing for our second pass through. There are some pretty awesome people we're teaching. Some less active JW's, a previous Satanist who is now pentecostal, some natives... life is pretty interesting. Kitimat is a beautiful town. Our apartment is infested with ants and the bathroom always smells like marijuana, but you can look out the window and see the ocean cradled in a little mountain valley, so that makes up for it. The people here are pretty laid back and good to talk to. Canadians.You know doing missionary work can't be too rough in a country where in military basic training you are given a "hurt feelings card" that you can hold up when the drill sargeant is yelling at you, and by law he has to move on to the next soldier. True story. Life is good! It's been good to hear from you all. Keep Kitimat in your prayers.

Elder Blotter

It's raining, it's pouring...

Family!

Well. Long time no speak! It was good to hear all of your voices yesterday and to confirm that you are, in fact, still alive. I hope that it was a good Mother's day, Mom. Yesterday during dinner we made a cake for our mothers. We'll eat it in proxy for our moms today. It's kind of hard to do much more than that when you're in another country, but at least we were able to call home!

The work in Kitimat is going really well! We're finding a lot of people to teach and teaching a lot of lessons, which is awesome. No stone is being left unturned. You kind of have to adjust how you handle missionary work based on the area that you are in. Because of my time in Vancouver I've come to like street contacting because of how many people you're able to talk to. And... the only places here where there are enough people to try street contacting are in parking lots. We were teaching a lesson outside the doors of the SuperValu grocery store the other day, when we had to cut it short because the manager wasn't a big fan. She let us say a closing prayer before she broke it up, at least. Hopefully they still let us shop there today, because it's pretty cheap.

There are pretty awesome members in Kitimat. There are four young families that pretty much make up the whole branch: The Van Hornes, the Syphuses, the Kaberrys, and the Streeters. All of them have us over weekly, and so even though there are fewer members here, we still get fed quite frequently. Mother Dearest, Sister Syphus is a food blogger, and so you should make something from iwashyoudry.com for your next internet recipe experiment. It might have been illwashyoudry or something like that, but that's the gist of it. Anyways, because there are so many members, we're learning a lot about member work. We do things like bake a cake, cut out a chunk and make a box out of chocolate bars and put a note inside it with a missionary-related commitment on it. Yeah. Cumorah caked. Member lessons have to keep kids entertained, so we have to think up lots of visuals and activities and things like that. It's been fun.

Well. The church is true! Hope that you all have a great week. Jacey Lou, the locks of love haircut looks just beautiful!

Elder Blotter