Spider Bite And Scripture Stories >:D

Another crazy week in Canada! (: 

And another long email. XD

I will not be offended if you don't read it all! It's massive!

1- Branch FHE on Monday (Family Home Evening; pretty long, haha)

2- Meeting with Sister Dylke :)

3- Lunch with our new Lutheran friends! :)

4- Restore! Also super neat miracle!

5- Walk around Mirror Lake. Saw some cute birds, but they were too quick and tiny for pictures. XD

6- Sister Ramberg and Sister Roy

7- Sister Harrison and her friendly cats! :D

8- Plan of Salvation with a new friend! (We've been teaching it a lot.)

9- Frosters from Circle K!

10- Also, seven months. :O

11- Went on a very cold walk! The wind covered our tracks in just a few minutes!

12- Lesson with Sister Stevens

13- Dinner with the Hetchlers! What a darling family! (Also, pizza again. XD)

14- Branch coordination and a blessing

15- Helping the Halls moving

16- Shoveling some more snow!

17- Dinner with Sister Belcourt

18- Cold calls and missed lessons

19- Interviews with Sister Cowley :0

20- Helping the Halls round two! I got bitten by a spider! XD

21- Dinner with the Hampsons

22- Helping the Halls for the third time! :)

23- L O T S of driving

24- Lunch with the Wolseys (We taught a cool lesson, so I go on quite a bit, just a warning! XD  The last paragraph labeled 24 is the best, though!)

25- Book of Mormon read with a friend! :D

26- Chapel tour with a friend!

27- Accidentally going to another church's service... *Nervous laughter*

1- P-Day was a bit of a happy blur for me. Cleaning, shopping, and lots of talking with my family. :)  Didn't get to talk to my dad too much, but hopefully I'll be able to this P-Day! I got to see almost all of my siblings, except for Paden and Risa. I also got to talk to my amazing mom a lot. 

1- Okay, I know the above paragraph wasn't about the FHE, but this one will be. We went to Sister Belcourt's place for Family Home Evening. The Hills, the Lyons, and Sister Harrison were all there. Sister Belcourt shared a message about gratitude. She gave each of us a paper with the word gratitude written like a blank acrostic poem. Each of us wrote down something we're grateful for starting with each letter. :)

1- For G, Sister Curry and I wrote God, of course. :)  We're grateful for all the blessings our Heavenly Father gives us, and for the reassurance that He loves us and is always watching out for us. Other people wrote things like Grace, Gift, and Goals. 

1- For R, we chose Restoration. (What do you expect? We're missionaries! XD)  I am so grateful that the gospel of Jesus Christ and His true church have been restored on the earth today. So much truth was distorted over time... so the truth needed to be brought back. Others at the FHE wrote Revelation, Respect, and Reading. I'm also grateful for reading! :D

1- A is for Atonement. I'm infinitely grateful for the sacrifice that our Savior Jesus Christ performed for each of us. He suffered not just for our trials and temptations, but for all the pain, sickness, and sorrow that each of us will ever experience. He did this so that as long as we repent and choose to follow His commandments, we won't have to pay the price for our sins. He also suffered for our pains and afflictions so that none of us can truly say, "No one knows what I'm going through." Jesus felt it all so that He can have complete sympathy and empathy for us, and so that He can know how to best comfort and help us.

1- For T, we did Testimonies! We're grateful for the truths we know, and for the opportunities that we have to share them with others. :)  Other T words mentioned were Temples, Teachers, Truths, and even Trials! Although I have mixed feelings about trials sometimes, I know that they can be a blessing--but usually just in hindsight. We don't recognize how they force us to grow until we look back on them later.

1- I is Inspiration! I'm glad that we can have those sudden thoughts that pop into our heads. We learn in the scriptures that all good things are of God. So, any time you get a thought to do something good or positive, it's the Lord nudging you in the right direction. :)  Some people have a hard time telling if a thought they have is from their own head or if the Holy Ghost planted it there. The distinction isn't always important. Just know that if it's a good thought, it is of God. 

1- The second T in gratitude is Time! Time is very precious, and everyone experiences it differently. It seems to speed by like a swooping peregrine falcon when we're enjoying ourselves. But when we're not, sometimes it creeps past slower than a snail. We need to make sure to use our time wisely, though, and spend it on things that are important. Other people said Trust, Talents, and Together. :)

1- For U, we chose Uniqueness! Almost everyone else said Unity, so we really were unique. XD  I'm grateful that everyone I know is different. We all like different things, we have different turns-of-phrase, we all enjoy different situations. If everyone was a cookie cutter, the world would be a boring place. 

1- For D, Sister Curry and I chose Dedication. Others in the room said Devotion, Determination, and Deity. I found it interesting that dedication, devotion, and determination are all very similar words. They refer to our effort in something. Dedication is how firmly we stick to a cause. Devotion is how strongly we want something to happen. Determination is how stubbornly we try to succeed. 

1- We kind of cheated with E, because we did two words. XD  "Everyone here." That brougth a smile to all the faces around us. It's true; I'm so grateful for all the people I've been able to meet in this branch so far! I'm also really grateful for everyone in my previous areas and all the family and friends I know! The other words that were shared were: Eternal companion, Entertainment, and Earnest.

1- Wow, that was a bit of a ramble about the FHE, but I thought it was a neat experience! It helped me to realize that there are so many things to be grateful for. I know that our Heavenly Father appreciates when we show gratitude to Him.

2- After the FHE, we met with Sister Dylke. She was super sweet! We came in and read some scriptures with her and also shared some funny stories. Her little dog Venger kept jumping in my lap and sprawling on my bag. XD  He's a shaggy little white maltese something mix, I think.

3- On Tuesday, we went to lunch with our friends of the Lutheran faith again. They told us about a neat, sponsored trip they took to Nepal. We talked more about our families, hobbies, and other things. Towards the end, I found a good segway for turning the conversation back to religion. I told them that our church has a unique message to share--the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We explained about the five basic missionary discussions and asked if they would be interested in meeting again to take them. They agreed, and also invited us to a testimony sharing event this Sunday evening. I'm excited to go and see what it's like!

4- So, I figured out a few day ago that my service jacket was missing. As missionaries, we have service clothes that are different than our daily attire. Usually stuff that's a bit more durable than dresses, skirts, and slacks, and stuff that can get dirty. I looked everywhere in my apartment for my jacket and couldn't find it. I realized that the last time I could remember wearing it was last Tuesday, when we were at the Restore. I prayed that I would be able to find it when we went to the Restore again.

4- My prayer was answered! I found not only my jacket, but a whole bag of service clothes that I had left! XD They had sat in a back room at the Restore for the entire week, and nothing had happened to them! I was super grateful to get my clothes back. :)

4- At the Restore, Sister Curry and I carried a few couches and chairs around. We moved them to a storage area where sold items are kept until the new owners can pick them up. We also filled the gaps with some glass tables. They were ridiculously heavy! Glass weighs a lot more than I imagined! XD  We also sorted some more VHS tapes and lots of ceramic stuff, and we did a little 'surgery'. There was a mantle-type decoration that a little wolf had broken off of. We put glue on his paws and legs, then stuck him back on. XD

5- We went for a walk around Mirror Lake. It was chilly! I got to see a couple Redpolls. They're super cute little birds here. They look a bit like female house sparrows, but even smaller. They're tan and brown with bright red spots on their foreheads. The males also have some red on their chests. I got to see a couple flitting around in the trees and underbrush. It made my day! :D

6- We did a video call with Sister Ramberg, then went to visit Sister Roy! She's the oldest person in the branch! She's 99, almost 100! :O  Apparently when Canadians hit their 100th birthday, they get a letter from the Queen of England, and Sister Roy is bound and determined to get that letter! I don't know when her birthday is, but from the way she talks, it's soon. :)

7- We went to visit Sister Harrison as well. She has awesome cats! A big, gray and white tom named 'Catmandoo', I think, and a black and white named Sassy. Catman was very friendly! He came and rubbed on my legs, then sat on the arm of the couch beside me. He kept leaning on me and headbutting me for pets. Sister Curry was using cat toys to play with Sassy. When I took a turn playing with Sassy, Catman sneezed all over the side of my face. XD  It got us all laughing. We think he was trying to get my attention again, because he just loves being pet. Also, didn't realize cats had such wet sneezes!

8- We got another opportunity to teach the Plan of Salvation! This time it was over video call, so I couldn't use my wooden representation. It went well, though! Sister Gillis was able to join to fellowship, and she really connected with our friend! We ended up chatting a bit afterward and all of us shared some stories. We got talking about embarrassing, clumsy moments, and I brought up one of the times I fell into the caiman tank at SeaQuest! XD  Caiman are like four-foot alligators with the personality of chihuahuas. Luckily, I didn't fall all the way in, and they were both on the other side of the tank. :)

9- On Wednesday the 2nd, Sister Curry and I went to a Circle K for part of our lunch to get Frosters! They're like slushies mixed with ice cream. We layered several flavors of ice cream and slushy. They were really tasty, but they made us super cold! We ended up bundling in our blankets to finish them. XD  I don't know why I keep torturing myself by eating ice cream and frozen stuff when it's well below freezing! XD

10- Also, yes, seven months. "Ew, gross, when did that happen?" (Bonus points if you get the reference! XD)  Seriously, though, part of me feels like I've been out for a couple weeks and part of me feels like I've been out a year! (A year of winter, haha) Time on the mission is so whack...  But yeah, I guess I hit my seven-month mark on the second! I still don't know what to think about that. :l

11- We took a walk around the church and it was super chilly! Only about -8 Celsius, but the windchill made it about -30. (Roughly 17 Fahrenheit vs -22 Fahrenheit.) I bundled up in my big coat and wore a balaclava too. I was glad! Pretty much only my eyes were exposed, and my breath made my eyebrows all frosty. We looped around the block and by the time we got back to the church, we could barely see faint indents in the snow where our tracks had once been. 

12- We went over to Sister Stevens again! She was really sweet. We watched a video called 'Discovering Truth' with her. I would definitely recommend it! It's narrated by Elder Uchtdorf, one of my favorite apostles! :D  There's a cute cartoon about six blind men finding an elephant and trying to figure out what it is. They each touch a different part of the elephant (its trunk, its ear, the tusks, its leg, its tail, and its flank) and try to tell the others what an elephant is. All of them were speaking truth, but only part of the truth. Therefore, they were all wrong.

13- We visited the Hetchlers afterward. They had pizza. XD  I find it funny that I somehow escaped eating pizza for roughly six months on my mission and then I've had it thrice in a short amount of time. I just still can't get over how slimy the bread feels under the sauce, and the sauce itself. XD  I choked down a piece of Hawaiian whatever because Sister Curry told me the pepperoni would be spicy. XD  

13- After dinner, we read some scriptures about gratitude, then had the kiddos draw pictures of things they're grateful for. I sketched a bird from SeaQuest. I'm so grateful that I was able to work at that aquarium, even though it feels like I haven't been there in a lifetime! My mom was able to send me some pictures and videos that I took at SeaQuest, so that brightened up my week! :D

14- We had Branch Coordination at the Lyon's place. After we discussed things that have been going on, Brother Lyon asked how we were doing. I responded with the nonchalant, knee-jerk, "I'm good." Then, Sister Curry reminded me that I'd been considering asking for a blessing. 

14- I wish I'd known sooner that missionaries could ask members for a blessing! I'd mistakenly thought that we could only get blessings from other missionaries, namely our District Leader. That's a bit tricky to do in a more outlying area, though, because our District Leader lives pretty far away. So, I asked Brother Lyon if he could give me a blessing. He did so, and I'm glad I asked. It was a great comfort. :)

15- Friday morning, we headed over to the Halls after our studies. They live so close to the church that it's less than a minute walk for them! We drove, of course, because our apartment is a little distance from the church. The snow got pretty deep because it kept falling all day. 

15- We helped Sister Hall to pack and clean out her pantry, then also boxed some other odds and ends. Her five-year old son, Dorian, was very helpful and talkative! Also, we got to meet baby Atlas! He's only about eight months old. He kept chewing on the boxes and bags we were using to pack! XD  Little squirt has sharp teeth! He bit Sister Hall when she took a box from him. XD 

16- It snowed a lot at the church, and we had a lesson fall through, so after weekly planning, we decided to shovel. We got pretty far; we did the steps on one side of the church and the walkway around the parking lot. The stairs were miserable! Ice had formed under the powder and we didn't have a proper ice chipper. Since I can get rather aggressive when shoveling ice, we decided to use some salt on the slicker parts. XD  I don't know how long we were shoveling for, but I warmed myself up, so I took off my big coat and hung it over a bike rack thingy. I kept on my balaclava to keep my ears warm, because the wind was still whistling like crazy! 

16- By the time we finished shoveling, new snow had already started to cover our starting points. We would have done a second shoveling, but both of us were tired and we had other things to do. I grabbed my coat and it was all stiff because it had been sitting on metal for a while. I shook off a bunch of the snow, then brought it in. My boots were pretty frozen; it was a workout to get them off! My back was also aching with fury, but I've been using my heatpad on it to help with the soreness. Doesn't hurt as bad as when I fell down the stairs a couple weeks ago! XD

17- Sister Belcourt invited us over for dinner. Sister Harrison and Sister Rogers were there too! I hadn't met Sister Rogers yet. :)  We talked about cats a lot because Sister Rogers used to own some, Sister Harrison has her friendly kitties, and I love talking about my cats back home. :D  Everyone always wants to hear about Lily the ragdoll, and apparently Bombays are super rare in Canada, so cat owners are always amazed that my family has one! 

17- We had tasty scalloped potatoes with ham and cheese, lots of carrots, and some beets. I'm not super fond of beets, but I ate some. They just taste like weird, slightly sour potatoes to me. And not the kind of sour that I love. XD  After dinner, we had pudding and ice cream, then also watched the Discovering Truth video about the blind guys and the elephant with them.

18- We did a lot of cold calls that evening; not everyone answered, but we were able to talk to a couple people. We mostly did Facebook because the rest of our lessons for that evening fell through. It worked out for me, though, because I was able to lay on the heatpad to relax my back. :)

19- We had interviews on Friday, and this time it was with Sister Cowley instead of President! We weren't sure why, but both of us were afraid to ask in case Sister Cowley said something like, "Oh, you can meet with him if you want!" XD   We did interviews virtually, so just on a Zoom meeting. It was a bit different. Sister Cowley gave me some really positive advice, though. :)

20- We went to the Halls on Friday again to help out. It was just after the kiddos got home from school, so we had lots of extra hands. We moved some boxes and stuff out of their storage room, then took down some shelving. I got an itchy spot on my hand. Upon closer observation, it turned out to be a spider bite. XD  

20- There were lots of cobwebs in the Hall's storage room, and I also got a little spider exoskeleton stuck to my pants. Sister Curry freaked out, but I thought it was neat! I did a quick search at the church once we were done helping out and learned that black widows and brown recluses are rarely found north of Calgary, Alberta. Aside from them, there aren't really any dangerous spiders in North America. I did another quick search and think the culprit might have been a long-legged sac spider or a cellar spider, based on the exoskeleton and webs. My hand got a bit itchier and there was some gross pus-like discharge, but aside from that, I'm fine. (If I become the next Spiderman, I'll be sure to let everyone know because I'm awful at keeping secrets! XD)

21- We drove to the Hampsons for dinner. It was a long drive, but the back roads were actually better than the city roads! We got around 6-8 inches of snow in the city, almost enough to swamp my boots! :O  The car's almost gotten stuck a few times. But dinner with the Hampsons was great! They made us spaghetti! I think it's only the second time I've had spaghetti on my mission. XD  We had canned pears for dessert and they were super tasty! :D

22- Saturday morning we were over at the Halls again. Elder Peterson and Elder Olsen from Wetaskiwin (Weh-task-a-win) came to help, along with a good chunk of the branch! We were part of the inside crew, so we brought up stuff from downstairs and put it in the front room. The outside crew came in, grabbed things, and somehow fit it all in the U Haul. We got to watch all the men scramble with moving the piano, the king-size mattress, the couch, and the TV. XD  

23- We drove a ton on Saturday! We drove to Daysland--about half an hour from Camrose--to meet the Halls at their new house. We helped to bring things in and put them in the correct rooms. Everyone kept their boots on and I felt kind of bad about getting melted snow all over the floor... :l  But we were able to unpack the Uhaul much faster than loading it. Everyone was excited when we got down to the last few boxes. :)

23- We drove to visit Sister Varty and Sister Carter. Sister Varty lives close to the Halls but Sister Carter is back in Camrose. We came home, changed out of service clothes, and headed over to her. We kind of got lost on the way back because the roads have close to a foot of snow on them, they're not plowed for the most part, and a lot of street signs have snow stuck on them. XD  Google maps saved us, though. And I'm super glad our car didn't get stuck in the snow!

24- After church on Sunday, we went to the Wolseys for lunch. It was super tasty! They made bacon, eggs, hash brown cubes, toast, and sausage. Also, orange juice spiked with ginger ale! Sister Wolsey called it a 'Mormon Mimosa'. XD It was super bubbly and sweet. 

24- After we ate, we asked them what one of their favorite parts of the Book of Mormon was. Most of the kids said Helaman and the 2,000 stripling warriors. We turned to Alma 56 to read it with them.

24- To give some background, I'll explain about the stripling warriors. Long ago, a group of Lamanites--typically the bad guys in the Book of Mormon--made an oath never to fight again. They felt so bad for all the pain and destruction they had caused in war, and they never wanted that to happen again. These Lamanites buried all of their weapons and vowed to God that they'd never fight or kill anyone again.

24- This group of Lamanites became known as the 'Anti-Nephi-Lehis'. The word 'anti' used to mean similar instead of against. They wanted to be different than other Lamanites, and they wanted to remind themselves about their righteous ancestors: Lehi and Nephi. They joined the Nephites--usually the good guys--and later became known as the people of Ammon.

24- During a particularly bad war between the Lamanites and the Nephites, the people of Ammon were tempted to break their oath. They wanted to help fight because the Nephites were struggling against the Lamanites. Helaman, one of the Captains of the army, told them not to break their oath. Even though things were hard, he told them that they would be blessed by honoring their covenants with God.

24- The people of Ammon still wanted to help. Two thousand of their young men decided to go fight with Helaman because they had been too young to make the oath. They became known as the stripling warriors. (Fun fact: Stripling is an antiquated term that actually means scrawny. I used to think it meant brave, haha. XD)  

24- Anyway, in Alma 56, there are three main armies. Helaman and the 2,000 young men, a Nephite named Antipus and his larger army, and the army of the Lamanites. The Lamanites were hiding in a big, fortified city named Antiparah. Helaman and Antipus didn't want to attack the city because they would be unlikely to succeed. Helaman and his stripling warriors ended up being used as bait in this chapter. They marched in front of the city Antiparah, and the Lamanites thought that Helaman and his army looked weak, so they rushed out to attack them.

24- Antipus and his forces followed the Lamanites, hoping to pincer them with Helaman's forces. The Lamanites saw Antipus's army following them and sped up to catch Helaman and his 2,000 teenagers. The stripling warriors were run ragged trying to escape the Lamanites.Then, the Lamanites stopped chasing them. They wondered if Antipus's army had caught up to the Lamanites, or if the Lamanites had stopped to try luring them back into a trap.

24- Helaman asked the stripling warriors what they thought they should do. They told him that they knew God was with them, because they'd been taught by their mothers to have faith. Then, they turned back to fight the Lamanites. Helaman said he'd never seen such great courage and faith!

24- Antipus's army had caught up to the Lamanites, but Antipus got killed in the conflict. His army was about to dissolve because they were lost and confused without a leader. They were also tired because of how long and fast they'd marched to save Helaman's army. The Lamanites would have won, but the arrival of Helaman and his 2,000 little warriors turned the tide of the battle. They were able to surround the Lamanites and get many of them to surrender. And in the end, none of the stripling warriors were killed because they had such amazing faith.

24- Wow, that was long! But here's the best part! XD  To help demonstrate all the movements of the armies and stuff, I started using a napkin to represent the city Antiparah. Then Isaac Wolsey flicked a potato cube at me, and that became Helaman and his stripling warriors. Isaac crumpled up some more napkins, and I used them to be Antipus's army and the Lamanite armies. I moved them around on the table and showed where the armies were and how the battle went. Everyone was laughing, but it also helped the family to get an understanding of the chapter.

25- After we got home from the Wolseys, we had a video call Book of Mormon read with a friend. He was in Alma chapter 55. We read that, then went on to chapter 56 with him. Since I'd just helped explain the positions of the armies to the Wolseys, I was able to help our friend to understand. 

25- Honestly, I love the war chapters of the Book of Mormon! Some of the biggest takeaways I have are that the Nephites--when they're righteous--fight for good causes. On the other hand, the Lamanites fight for all the wrong reasons. They want land, power, slaves, money, unrighteous dominion (being ruled unfairly by kings) or other selfish things. The Nephites only wish to defend. They fight back to protect their liberty, their land, their families, and their rights to worship. God is with the Nephites when they defend their righteous causes. I also just love picturing the armies in motion, all the different war strategies, and other stuff. The assassination attempts (on both sides, haha), the spies, all the times the Nephites are able to trick the Lamanites into leaving their strongholds... It's fascinating!

26- Anyway, after all that, we had a chapel tour with another friend. We asked the amazing Sister Dylke to come fellowship. Our friend needed a ride, and Sister Dylke was more than willing to pick her up. :)  We drove to the church together and showed her around. We explained about our services, the purposes of different rooms, and other stuff. We're going to invite her to attend church next week, and hopefully she can come!

27- Welp, does anyone remember earlier in this email how I said our Lutheran friends invited us to a testimony-sharing thingy? Turns out, it was their actual church service! XD We didn't realize until close to the end, haha. It was just so different from what we do...

27- I won't go into a lot of detail because it was kind of long, and I don't want to mock other religions. However... I just didn't have the greatest feeling there. I could tell that the people there were doing their best with what they had... but they don't have all the pieces of the restored gospel. :l  It reminded me of times at SeaQuest when I would find potatoes and apples floating in the octopus tank, or when someone would try to feed chicken pellets to the rabbits. They were trying, but they just didn't know the correct way to do things. Octopuses are carnivores, and rabbit pellets are very different than chicken pellets. Similarly, our friends of a different faith had some beliefs that aligned with ours, but other things they did just weren't quite right.

To close this monster of an email, I'd just like to say how grateful I am to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I'm so glad that I've grown up being taught the principles of the restored gospel. I'm also grateful for the promise given at the end of the Book of Mormon. We are told by the prophet Moroni that if we ask God, in the name of Jesus Christ, with a sincere heart and real intent, and with faith in Jesus Christ, that we will know the answer through the power of the Holy Ghost. 

I love knowing that I can receive my own answer when I bring questions to God. You can receive answers to your questions too! All we need to do are those things that I quoted above. (The entire promise is found in Moroni 10:3-5)

1- Ask God. Pray! Speak to Him!

2- Ask God in the name of Jesus Christ (close a prayer with His name, because His name is powerful)

3- Have a sincere heart. Actually pray! No half-hearted praying.

4- Have real intent. Want an answer!

5- Have faith in Jesus Christ. Believe that God can answer your prayer through the power of His son.

Hope everyone is doing well! I'll add some pictures--if you got this far. XD

The spider exoskeleton I found at the Halls on my tag, lots of hoarfrost on the bushes and trees, and Sister Curry and I in the snow!