O Canada

Alright, looks like my P-Day is Monday now! And I know I said this last week, but I'm pretty sure this is actually the longest email I've ever written.

I honestly don't have a ton of time because P-Day is almost over. It ends at 6:00 pm sharp, and we have more teaching after that. 

First things first, missionary work here in Edmonton is nothing like I expected. I had all these preconceived notions that my trainers have been laughing at. XD Oh, yeah, trainers plural. I'm in a comptrio, so I technically have two trainers. I was supposed to go with some other sisters, but it's a crazy story. 

Alright, summary time:

This week has been HeCtIc. I had a super long day of flying--not as long as some people, but long enough for me. I also had a tight connecting flight and so two of my luggage bags went MIA for a while because the airplane I was on got delayed. I finally got one of them back but I'm still waiting for news on the other one. :l  It's either in Denver, Colorado or Vancouver, Canada. I've been doing way more phone calls and Facebook finding than I thought I would. I pictured door-to-door proselyting, but that's not very effective here, so I'd say at least 80% of our teaching has been Zoom, texting, messaging on Facebook, and just calling people. Canada is great! Not super cold yet, but winter is definitely on the way. I have a nice apartment and my companions are amazing! There are also so many cool birds and plants here that I love. I'm hoping I can quickly adjust to the metric system because I have no idea how kilometers or Celsius works, haha. 

What actually happened:

Flying was insane. I got up at about 2:00 am on Thursday (Wednesday was just a long day of waiting, so I'll kind of gloss over it) and couldn't go back to sleep. I got my bags and left the dorm at the MTC at around 2:30ish and walked to the travel office, then had to wait until 3:15 for a shuttle. The ride to the Salt Lake airport was about an hour, but the shuttle driver and other people were friendly, so we talked a lot. At the airport, I checked in my bags and went through security fine, then it was a lot of waiting. There were some other Elders, but no Sisters, and no one had the same flight as me. I got on the plane at about 7:00 am, and started feeling my three hours of sleep (yes, I couldn't sleep until 11:00; I was anxious Wednesday night.) 

7:30 rolls around and the pilot announces that the flight will be delayed because there's lot of air traffic in Denver. :l  My connecting flight was at 9:45 and we were supposed to land at about 9:00, but then the delay happened... XD  I slept a lot on the first flight; it was  a blur. We landed at about 9:20, and boarding stopped at 9:30, so I booked it through the airport with my carry-on. I had to catch a train to go to another terminal and it was about 9:35 by the time I got to the right gate. They were yelling my name over the loudspeakers. XD 

I got on and had to ask a stewardess for help with my carry-on. It was about 30 pounds (no idea what that is in kilometers XD). I said, "Careful, it's a little heavy." She goes to pick it up and groans, "This is a lot heavy! Did you know there's a sixteen-pound limit on carry-ons?" I was told I'd been allowed forty pounds, but I felt bad, so I maybe white-lied a bit and told her I thought it was a thirty-pound limit. She goes, "Miss, this isn't thirty. It's at least forty or fifty!" I was trying so hard not to laugh. I'm pretty sure she hated me because of that. XD

I met a nice Sister named Sister Spackman on the flight. We had the same layover in Vancouver. The flight was long, but we flew over the Vancouver islands. One of my artist friends lives there, so I thought it was cool! When we landed, it was a little nerve-wracking getting through customs. I had to go through several booths where surly guys asked me, "What are you doing here?" I had to very carefully answer that I'm 'serving' not working as a missionary. Then they'd ask me for authority and I'd have to pull out a fat stack of paperwork.

Pretty sure we were there for at least five hours... Some of the waiting took forever, so I power-napped while sweet Sister Spackman watched my stuff. We eventually got through to the luggage train thingy, but I couldn't find my luggage. I called a security guy for help and he told me that he'd track down my luggage. He looked up some stuff in a computer and was like, "Good news and bad news. Good news is, I found your luggage. Bad news is, it's not at this airport." Turns out, it was still in Denver. :l It hadn't made the connecting flight because of the delay of my first flight.  I asked him when I'd get it and he was like, "Oh, we'll send it to your Canada address tonight, for sure."

He lied. XD I was excited to think I'd get it that night, but I didn't. The layover was long and exhausting. I was starving, so I bought a ridiculously overpriced omelette that was incredibly bland and some weird bread. The bread was wafer-thin and burnt to a crisp, so it was like crunching on chips of ash. XD I also got a smoothie, but it was like watery yogurt. XD And they gave me this weird paper straw that got so wet it barely worked, then a dumb little wooden fork and knife that were super blunt and did basically nothing. I almost just ate with my hands because I was so exasperated. XD Canada's a bit weird with silverware, apparently. 

The third flight wasn't too long, but I was tired. I watched a movie and almost fell asleep. When we landed, President Cowley and Sister Cowley--the mission leaders--were there to greet us. They drove us to the mission home and it was awesome! I got to stay the night there after a delicious meal that they made for us. There were maybe a dozen Elders and four other Sisters. I was too tired to remember.

I told them about my luggage and they laughed when I said I'd been informed that it would arrive tonight. They were like, "Maybe tomorrow or Saturday." So... I had to kind of live out of my carry-on. I didn't pack much in it. XD Sister Cowley was so nice and let me borrow things like pajamas and toiletries, though.

My first full day in the mission (Friday) was great! We had transfers at about 10ish, maybe. All the missionaries in Edmonton--which isn't very many at the moment--drove to a Bishop's storehouse place. We all got some winter gear in advance--even though it's a bit warm now--and got assigned companions. I was supposed to go to an area that's about five hours away, but the Cowleys reassigned me somewhere closer because my luggage still hadn't come. I got assigned Sister LaFrance as a trainer and Sister Spackman as a second companion. We aren't the only comptrio.

I also saw a huge mountain hare! (Jackrabbit for you Utahns XD) Apparently they're everywhere here. Hares don't dig burrows like rabbits; they just sleep under bushes or wherever and run from predators instead of hiding. Everyone else was like, "Eh, no big deal," but the hare was the size of a small dog. I tried to get a picture, but I spooked it. There are Canada geese everywhere here, of course, and lots of ravens. There are enormous flocks of magpies too, and so many cabbage butterflies! The blue spruces are gigantic and gorgeous. There are so many birch, pine, poplar, and cottonwood trees as well. And some sort of weird berry tree that I haven't identified yet but I want to look up. It's got small leaves and huge clusters of lava-colored berries about the size of small blueberries. 

Anyway, I'm loving the flora and fauna. I keep making my companions laugh because every time I see a new bird or tree, I'm like, "Oh, I didn't know that could live this far north!" It's not too cold yet, but mornings have been a bit chilly. Of course, Sister LaFrance is from Toronto, so she keeps the windows of our apartment open and keeps fans running. XD I wisely chose the bed and study desk closest to the windows. So I'm bundled up and shivering in the breezy mornings and afternoons while she's across the room complaining of heat. XD

I've had some experimental meals here. So far I've managed to burn butter when trying to fry these tasty potato-pizza pocket-type things called pierogies, I think. XD I've made a couple tasty smoothies, though, and had lots of sandwiches. Really makes me wish I'd spent more time in the kitchen when I was home. If you read this, mom, you were right! XD 

Teaching has been so interesting! The first day we didn't meet anyone in person. We basically drove back and forth from the nearest church to the apartment for meals and calls. We had this one guy answer the phone, then put us on hold and hang up, which is the digital version of getting a door slammed in our face. XD 

Sister Spackman and LaFrance have told me I'm full of 'Greenie Fire', meaning I'm bringing spiritual luck to the mission, I suppose. We found two new contacts within twenty-four hours, and were able to have successful conversations with people who'd been confrontational the last time they'd been called. They have lots of other fun mission terms that I love. 'Celestial parking', 'Mission veil', and a few others that I can't remember. But I'm a 'baby' since I'm a new missionary and Sister LaFrance is my 'mom' since she's my trainer.

We did get to go to a couple member houses the other day. In this mission, we can only accept meals at member houses if there's a nonmember or less-active present, so that doesn't happen often. It happened our second day. XD The Sisters attributed it to my Greenie Fire. We did a bit of street-contacting, which is where we met one of the new people. Canada is super strict about privacy, though, so I can't say the names of any non-members. :l

I've been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy! I was challenged to read it in two transfers (twelve weeks). But it's not supposed to be a speed-read. My mission president challenged me to look for specific things. I've been studying instead of reading and I've already found so many things that I never noticed before! I could probably go on for paragraphs about all the things I've discovered and read, but I won't. This email's long enough already! XD

If anyone does read all the way down here, I'd like to challenge you to reread the Book of Mormon. If you want to read it in twelve weeks like me, you only need to read about six to seven pages a day, or roughly five chapters, if you want to go by chapters. It doesn't take too long, but I can promise that if you do, it'll bless your life. I've already seen so many miracles and I haven't even been a missionary for a week! If you take up this challenge, I'll ask you to look specifically for times that Christ is mentioned and his many other names. Redeemer, Messiah, Savior of the World, Lamb of God. 

Well, this was a super long email! I hope everyone enjoys it. Once again, I understand if you don't read the whole thing! I love you all and hope everyone's doing well!

Promising blessings,

Sister Howard