Week 10

Hello Everyone!!

I can't believe it, already Monday again! This week was crazy busy for me! Hopefully all of you have had a great week! Any missionary experiences?! It is weird how as you dedicate your life to the cause of missionary work all other worries seem to diminish and you no longer worry about anything else. All fears melt away as you put all of your trust in the Lord. I am staying warm, I am eating well, health is good (I actually work out mornings & nights), Teaching is progressing--slowly though, and the companionship is good so it is actually really nice out here for now! Well the weather isn't it's freezing, that is okay though! 

To update on investigators and such. Okay so the man named Heath that was our "golden contact" yeah, he was super cool and everything, but doesn't think it fits his life right now. Said he will keep our number and when things change he will contact the missionaries. That was a tough pill to swallow; it is hard to not see the immediate success. But we have faith that the seed has been planted and according the Lord's timetable he will want to know more! 

No other new investigators this week really..We are moving forward with the 3 kids in the family. She is going to talk to the dad this week about letting them get baptized, so hopefully that goes well! We still have the one baptism that will be in March from the other part member family! We have been staying very busy with our less actives and member families as well! This week I realized how much I care for the area in which I serve. I do everything I can to try and improve every aspect of it. It makes you feel like your time is much more worthwhile as you can see a lot of areas improve. It really is not centered on numbers, we are strengthening the area in every way possible! Tracting this week we had a couple noteworthy moments! One was we tracted down range roads, in -15 degree weather while it was snowing. It was a good time! Nothing came of it, but it was something I always imagined myself doing up here in Canada! Another experience we had was in a small town called Clyde. This lady opens the door, kind of cross-eyed, draggin' on her cigarette. We start talking to her about faith and she goes off how the Holy Father has helped her so much. And how Jesus is going to heal her. Anyways, she keeps going on and on, and when we leave she like blessed us? It was so weird!! 

I had a really cool experience this week while down in the city (Edmonton). We had Zone Training Meeting, then a broadcast in the city we had to wait for so we went on mini-exchanges. I went with Elder Batchuluun, he is from Mongolia. We went to this Mongolian family, and had dinner with them. I understood like 20 words in an hour and a half. I think I said the most words when I said the closing prayer? Anyways the lesson taught was the plan of salvation, all in Mongolian. No, I didn't have the gift of tongues, but I had a neat experience nonetheless. Even though I didn't understand a single word, I felt the spirit so strong. It was a powerful experience for me, to know that the spirit truly does testify and is felt in our hearts. 

Our mission is growing like crazy over the next year! Our cap has increased we will eventually have 250 with a differential of 20 either way. Next transfer..so like middle of February they will open up 5 areas. That means we will add close to 100 more missionaries to the mission. It will be crazy, and I could easily be bumped up to a role of leadership quickly.

This week I have found myself studying again from the Book of Mormon. I have almost got through the 4 gospels really in the New Testament. I already read the triple combo once. I was reading in the New Testament and I had such a desire to read from the Book of Mormon, so I started it again this week! Hopefully each of you read from the Book of Mormon each day. After all, it is the keystone to our religion, without it our church is nothing! I invite you all to also read in the Doctrine & Covenants. Powerful book, I go back and forth everyday deciding which one I like more! Prayerfully reading from the scriptures is something that I wish I had done long before my mission. There are so many answers to be found. Comfort that I cannot explain. Direction that you cannot question. 

Keep looking for missionary opportunities! Don't be afraid to share the gospel with someone because you are afraid of losing a friend. This gospel can help every single person on Earth. The blessings are hard to comprehend, but they will come as we seek them. Thank you all so much for your prayers! They are felt! I hope you all have a great week! Thank you for all that you do! Love you!

Love, Elder McFall