Another Week In Canada :)

I don't know what to call this email. XD  Enjoy!

1- Busy P-Day 

2- Lots of cold calls

3- Mustard Seed!

4- A rather bashy lesson... :l

5- Awesome lesson with a wonderful friend!

6- District Council

7- Zone Facebook Finding activity  -_-

8- Dinner at the Fortins!

9- More Mustard Seed. :)

10- One of our friends wasn't too happy with us... :l

11- Even more Mustard Seed! :O

12- Amazing new friend!

13- Absolutely insane Saturday!

14- CrAzY Sunday!

1- P-Day was kind of hectic. We got up and cleaned some of the apartment, then went for Sister Marsmaker to get a haircut! I got to work on a couple emails during that time, but I'm still a bit behind... *nervous laughter*  Then we went shopping and came back to clean the rest of the house. I spent a lot of time cleaning the vacuum because it was clotted with hair. I got a massive hairball the size of a large rat. XD

1- We had a bit of poor communication with some missionaries in the Zone, so sports was a bit of a letdown, honestly. :l  Sister Marsmaker and I got there to find Sisters Walbeck, Miller, Smith, and Cannon all crammed into one car. None of us have keys to get into the building we normally use for sports, and it was a bit too cold to hang out outside. Sister Marsmaker and I climbed into the trunk of the car and had some fun with the Sisters. :)

1- After a while, we tried calling some Elders. They were like, "Oh, we were going to get a car wash, but I guess we can do it on the way home." -_-  No, Elders, take your time. It's not like we've been squished in a car waiting for half an hour....   By the time they got there, P-Day sports time was half-over. We only have two hours allotted for sports. It's always 1-3. It took a while for everyone to decide what to do and we basically played Speed sporadically for the rest of the time. I'm not too fond of it. I kept getting out and just sitting on the stage, twiddling my thumbs.

1- We got asked to shovel the sidewalk, but Sister Marsmaker and I don't have shovels. We just followed Sister Cannon and kind of kicked a bit of snow off the pavement. Then, we drove to the church in our area and got to talk to our families for a bit. Sister Marsmaker and I kind of wished we had just stayed instead of going... Since we no longer have wifi at the apartment, we couldn't talk to our families during dinner.

2- Sorry for a bit of a rant about P-Day. It just didn't turn out the way I expected. :l  But that evening and the next day we did a lot of cold calls. Only one was successful, and we found this sweet member named Sister Wilson. No one else answered, so RIP.

3- The Mustard Seed on Tuesday was fun! We packaged pork chops that smelled heavenly, mashed potatoes, and carrots. I was mostly scooping the carrots. We had lots of fun and got to meet a new chef that's really friendly! I also got a chocolate-covered croissant and I'm so excited about it! They're tasty!

4- Wednesday morning we had a lesson with one of our friends. She started to get pretty bashy. We could tell by the questions she was asking that she was trying to get us to contradict ourselves or make a mistake. We spoke very carefully and stayed quiet a lot while she ranted. She wasn't the most angry Bible Basher I've encountered, though, so that was nice. She just couldn't wrap her head around a few things. It was ironic, because she kept saying she was keeping an open mind, and then she'd be like, "No, that's wrong!"  But it's okay. We parted on semi-good terms. She's just really set in her beliefs, and we don't want to force anything on her.

5- Shortly after that lesson, we had a much better one! We called the friend that we'd given a copy of the Book of Mormon to last week. He had some questions about the intro and the testimonies of the witnesses. We decided to share the Restoration with him and it was amazing! After Sister Marsmaker recited Joseph Smith's First Vision, our friend went silent. He's the kind of guy that talks without taking a breath, so I was worried the call got disconnected or something. I asked him how he felt after a moment, and he quietly replied that he had a really good feeling. I know that he was feeling the spirit! We invited him to pray and ask God if what we shared is true. I'm really excited to meet with him again. :)

6- We missed some of our lunch because that lesson ran long, but it was totally worth it. We got A&W's on the way to District Council to eat. I honestly love A&W! They have super tasty root beer! District Council was pretty good. We all shared a couple things from our different areas, then talked about how to get our friends to come to church and the things they experience there. We also discussed how we can get people to recognize the spirit, and our favorite ways to feel the spirit. :)

7- Welp, our Zone decided to do a Facebook finding activity. After District Council, we all gathered in one room and tried to do some Facebook stuff. Honestly, I found it very hard to do anything. I couldn't feel the spirit very well. Everyone was rowdy, they were playing music off of Spotify--a huge missionary no-no--and companions were doing things separately. :l  I won't name names because I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus, but I wasn't too impressed with everyone's behaviors. 

7- As missionaries, we're never supposed to use our phones without companions, especially on Facebook. We also aren't supposed to send anything other than communications with family without running it past a companion. And phone calls are always on speaker so both companions can hear, unless it's someone from the Mission Office that just needs to talk to one missionary. Or, like, President Cowley himself. So when a missionary in the Zone would just announce that they were going to randomly call someone on Facebook and walk into the hall, I was like.... :l   But I couldn't say anything, because they're the 'technology specialists' and have leadership positions in the Zone.

8- The Fortins invited us over for Dinner. That was pretty fun! Their cat Hastings still can't decide if he likes me or not. XD  At least he didn't scratch me this time! We had tasty burgers and I shared a verse from Alma 17 about the Sons of Mosiah asking for comfort, if I remember correctly. (I'm too lazy to look up the reference now) Brother Fortin pulled out his Book of Mormon and he had bookmarked that page. That's what he had read in his scripture study that morning! I thought it was super cool that I'd felt inspired to share a verse from the chapter he had just read out of. :D 

9- On Thursday, we went to the Mustard Seed again before weekly planning. If I'm being entirely honest, I can't remember what we made or served that day. XD  It was fun, though! We got to know the new chef some more and one of my friends at the Mustard Seed that loves art was showing me a cool sculpture he made. :)

10- So... one of our friends that we've been teaching texted us and was like, "I need to talk to you ASAP." We were in a lesson, so we planned to call her right after. She beat us to it and called seconds after we finished our lesson. She said she has a kidney infection and needed a ride to the hospital. She sounded really hurt. We told her that as missionaries we're not allowed to drive anyone in our cars for liability reasons. She asked if we could help out still. We called a member and very hesitantly asked her for advice. She suggested a taxi or an ambulance, and Sister Marsmaker and I were like, "Oh, why didn't we think of that?"

10- We called our friend back and she got angry and hung up on us. She called us some things that I'd never heard her say, and it honestly really hurt... :(  Sister Marsmaker and I texted her, suggesting a taxi or an ambulance. She basically said it was a dumb idea and told us to leave her alone. *Confusion*  If you're hurt and need transportation, isn't that probable cause to call an ambulance? 

10- Like I said, she wasn't happy. The experience made me think of a quote my dad always tells me. Something like, "Sometimes reaching out to help someone in need is like trying to pet a tempermental porcupine, but the resulting quillmarks in our hands are evidence that we are still reaching out."  I've had a porcupine quill stuck in me before, and it's a very unpleasant experience. (When I worked at SeaQuest, I got to hang out with Quilliam, the amazing African Crested porcupine! I got poked and it was entirely my fault; he would never spike anyone on purpose. XD)

11- We got a big surprise Friday morning! We had just finished planning when the social media sisters gave us a call and asked if we could fill in for them at the Mustard Seed. We agreed immediately, then quickly had to rearrange practically our whole schedule. XD  It was fun though! We helped bag meals, wash and cut potatoes, and a few other things. The new chef kept bragging about his 'kitchen hands' and how he can't get burned, then was lifting heavy things to show off. XD He scared us when he showed how fast he could cut with a knife, though. He was like, "I don't even have to look!" and we were like, "Please don't cut off your fingers!"

12- So, right after the Mustard Seed on Friday, we made a new friend! She's someone that we've been trying to get in contact with for a while, and we were finally able to call! I would say her name, but once again, Canada's lovely privacy laws. (:  I can give a hint, though, because I absolutely love her name! She has the same name as a character from my comic, What the Skeld?!  (Only a few of you will get this, haha. Mostly just siblings and maybe a friend or two if you even know about my comic. XD) But she shares a name with one of my favorite characters, Quetzal and Fisher's sister!

12- Anyway, this amazing new friend called and said she wants to be baptized and grow closer to God. She told us it's been hard to make friends, especially now. She wants to meet people with similar morals and beliefs. So, we invited her to church and she came! (I'm writing this on Sunday) She said she really enjoyed the service, and our amazing ward mission leader Brother Hansen was kind enough to give her a ride. I'm so happy to meet with her again and help her progress in her goals! :D

13- *Inhale* Okay, Saturday was one of the absolute most hectic days of my entire mission! The number of times we had to revisit our schedule... Ack. I barely remember how the day started.

13- The morning went according to plan. Then we had an unexpected call that kind of threw a wrench in things. We also had to stop by Walmart to pick up something, and then we drove to the church to call a few people. We called a former (someone formerly taught by missionaries) and invited him to church, so hopefully he'll come! His call ran long, though, so we had to reschedule my walk. (:

13- Back to Walmart, then down to the southern edge of our area to visit a friend. She was sick and didn't want us to come in, so we sat in the car and killed some time contacting people. We were able to narrow down our massive list of referrals and find the ones actually interested in meeting again. We also drove and got a car wash, because some things fell through and next P-Day will be too cold for a car wash. Then, we drove back to the apartment to grab an English book for someone taking a free English class. 

13- We drove all the way to the south edge again to meet a friend with lots of cats and old cameras. He knows I like art so he gave me a bunch of art pencils and charcoal that he's not using. I thought it was super sweet of him! After that, we were going to have dinner with some members, but that fell through because they got sick. So, we hightailed it to the far north end of our area to drop off the English learning book.

13- It was a rich part of town. Polar opposite of the sketchy slums where most of our referrals seem to be coming from. XD Seriously, we saw a massive limo as we pulled into the street! The roads were narrow and had several inches of uneven ice, so we couldn't park anywhere that didn't block the road or someone's driveway. We had to drive quite a ways and it was a decent walk to get to the right house. I almost wiped out a few times because the ice was so slick! It was anywhere from two inches to a foot thick in some places! I can't believe how poorly-maintained the roads and sidewalks are. 

13- We dropped off the book, then bolted home for dinner. We ate, then scrambled to the church so that we could have wifi. Some Elders were going to have a pass-off lesson with us. (They were going to introduce someone they were teaching to Sister Marsmaker and I because we live closer and can have more frequent lessons.) However, that fell through as well, so we mostly just did Facebook for the rest of the night. (:  I was very dead Saturday evening. 

14- Sunday was kind of wacky too. We went to church early, then had a bit of study time before the second hour. Our awesome new friend whose name I can't mention came, and she was so friendly and excited! We participated in the second hour of church, then tried to visit another referral. She didn't answer. -_-  So... back to the apartment for lunch, then off to the church again for more calls and lessons! :D

14- We had dinner with the Simmons! It was super delicious! Ham and mashed potatoes, cream of corn, salad, and scrumptious lemon bundt cake for dessert! We shared a message, then asked Brother Simmons if he could join us in a lesson with a friend. He agreed, and we had a neat lesson! We shared some scriptures in Matthew 6 and 7 about prayer, because our friend wants a closer connection to God and prayer is a wonderful way to do so. We can't wait to meet with him again! :D

That's about it! It was around freezing for most of the week, but this morning (Monday) it dropped to -14 Celcius, so about 7 degrees Fahrenheit. (:  So... we're back to the cold! 

Anyway, take some pictures!

Sister Marsmaker and I made Cheetos mac and cheese, cute chipmunk/squirrel tracks in the snow,Chinook our hare friend, a facemask we found called 'Vegetable Placenta', some wicked-awesome icicles, and a neat-o thing someone posted on Facebook about Jesus's sacrifice that I just loved. :)