December 29, 2014

Well this week was probably one of the slowest weeks of my life. We were not able to do much because it was the Christmas season and it was Boxing Day after Christmas and there are not a lot of people home and they are not interested at the time.

I just want to say that I loved Christmas! It was amazing and I loved Facetiming you guys. It was so good you see all of you. It looked like, by the pictures, that you all you a good Christmas. Tanner you need to smile more! :)))))))))))

So this Sunday our investigator Amanda came to church. She is the one who lost her kids because Brendon was not allowed in the house or to be around the kids. So he is gone living in Cranbrook with his mom and brother. The missionaries there are teaching him. So there was A LOT of emotional problems. This experience has brought them closer to God and has strengthened them as a family, because of what happened and the experiences that she had.  Her kids notice it and Amanda and her kids want to be baptized. They are not afraid to stick up for what they believe in. I do not know for sure if I told you about the experience(s) that Amanda had, but I think I did. Let me know if I did tell you guys.  

DEC, 8th 2014

 

So this week was transfers and I am still in Trail. I will be here till the beginning of January (hopefully). Being in one area for 6 months is too long, and also it does not happen that much.

 So this week was a week of packing and saying good bye, and driving to Lethbridge, Alberta. It is crazy driving in Alberta. And then I got a new comp. His name is Colton Simpson. Lybe went to Calgary somewhere as a Zone Leader. And that is about all that happened this week. 

Elder Bednar says some good things about missionary work and how it blesses the lives of others, and that it is a priesthood responsibility. He says

 "All of us who have received the holy priesthood bear the sacred obligation to bless the nations and families of the earth by proclaiming the gospel and inviting all to receive by proper authority the ordinances of salvation. Many of us have served as full-time missionaries, some of us presently are serving as full-time missionaries, and all of us now are serving and will continue to serve as lifelong missionaries. We are missionaries every day in our families, in our schools, in our places of employment, and in our communities. Regardless of our age, experience, or station in life, we are all missionaries.
Proclaiming the gospel is not an activity in which we periodically and temporarily engage. And our labors as missionaries certainly are not confined to the short period of time devoted to full-time missionary service in our youth or in our mature years. Rather, the obligation to proclaim the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is inherent in the oath and covenant of the priesthood into which we enter. Missionary work essentially is a priesthood responsibility, and all of us who hold the priesthood are the Lord’s authorized servants on the earth and are missionaries at all times and in all places—and we always will be. Our very identity as holders of the priesthood and the seed of Abraham is in large measure defined by the responsibility to proclaim the gospel." 

 I know that this is true. We all can be missionaries even though we do not wear the tag. We should all be acting on missionary opportunities because they are everywhere; School, Work, Store, Vacations, EVERYWHERE. We are all brothers and sisters of our loving Heavenly Father. If that is the case then wouldn't we want them to have that same happiness, joy, and salvation that we have?     

Dec. 2 2014

Hey guys,

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas! My Thanksgiving went super good, just like I’m sure yours did too. I did not eat that much pie or potatoes at all. For American Thanksgiving we had dinner at our WMLs (Ward Mission Leader's) house. We had Ham, Potatoes, and Stuffing it was really good. After that, we drove to a members house and had some pie there. I had a piece of home made pecan pie! It was the best pecan pie I have ever had! So that was our thanksgiving. At first it was kinda hard not being home for that, because for 18 years it has been at grandmas house or grams house. It was different not doing that. But in the end it all went good. I got your packages that you sent me! Thank you so much Grandma and Fam. I can’t wait to open them for Christmas.

Today is transfer week, so that is why I’m emailing today on Tuesday our Pday and not Monday. So with transfers this week we found out that I am NOT being transferred. I’m staying in Trail, and Lybe is going. He’s being transferred somewhere south, so Calgary. So this week he will be packing up and we will be driving to Calgary. 

On Sunday we had another church open house, and we knocked, and knocked on doors handing out flyers inviting people to it. We probably knocked on 100 doors and we were hoping for a good turn out of at least one non-member. But that did not happen. We just got more members, which is good but non members would have been better.

We got a new investigator! He was also baptized this week too. So I got my first baptism this week! He is 9 years old, he invited us to his baptism at the church open house, and then we realized that he is 9 years old. That means we have to teach him before he can be baptized. His family is all members but they lived in a place with no church/ward/branch when they moved there was a LDS church (the one that they are going now) they wanted their son to go to church before he was baptized. But in that time he turned 9 so we had to teach him all 5 lessons first. One day we taught him lessons 2and3. That went great! We felt the spirit, and Weston (9 year old) did too. He was laughing and crying, two days later we taught him lessons 4-5 and he was interviewed by our DL the same day. They had family coming up for the baptism and for American Thanksgiving so they were not going to change the date. I will send that picture today.

We also did a lot of service this week which consisted of snow removal, people were really grateful for that, stacking wood for a member, and helping a member move in. They moved into a nice place. Nice house, 20 acres and it is 7 clicks to the US Border. 

So this week I will be getting a new comp, and we will be driving up to Calgary. And with the investigators that we have there has been a lot of things going on, a lot of things for the worse. Nina has decided to take a month long break from the BoM and read only the Bible, and see what fruit will grow just from that, meaning New World Translation Bible which happens to be the JW bible. We asked her if this was an idea from her friend Lina who is a JW, and she said yes. Nina said that she knows that there will be something missing, but she is doing it anyways. 

And then the Grieves. We met with them that other day and that went great, there are still a lot of things going on. They have to find a new place to live because the Landlord is going to sell the house.

So that is just great! So that is all the things that are and have been happening. Thank you so much for the Christmas Packages. That is just so awesome! It will be a great Christmas this year for me in Canada. 

Also the Church is doing this HUGE thing for Christmas. It is called the Christmas Initiative. The Church will be doing a YouTube Takeover like they did with Easter last year. So this month we will be giving He is The Gift pass-along cards along with DVDs. So if you get time watch that video, and if you get the Ensign there are He is The Gift pass-along cards, the some ones that we will be handing out. So if you get your hands on them then I challenge you hand them out to people. 

Thank you again for the Christmas Packages.

Thank you for the love and support .

Love you all and have a great week! 

Elder Lybe's birthday dinner at Parslow's