September 10, 2015

Hello family and friends!

Holy smokes, this last week has been insane! I have so much to write about. Hum. Maybe I always say that but for real. Well - I did get some transfer news. I left Milton after 4.5 months and I'm now in Brantford. Saying goodbye was hard. It always is. I get so close to the members and the people we work with and then I have to leave. BOO. But I always end up loving my next area! Ha. We were crazy busy on Monday - saying bye to everyone! I said bye to Helena, Brother Sunders, Joan, Choi family, Cabrerra family, Sister Mah, Gould family, Miller family, Aileen and co, Goodrich family and ended with the Stothart family. Wow - it was so busy but I had to say bye to them all. I was too grumpy to cry all day but I totally cried when I said bye to Brother Saunders. He asked if we could sing to him one more time so we sang, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again." Yes, he was crying and so I lost it during the last verse. Ah man. It was sad. The Millers had us over for lunch and I asked him for a blessing... I was a little nervous about my new area and position. But the blessing was so sweet and it really comforted me. It was way hard to say bye to Aileen and her family. Man, I wanted to see them be baptized so bad!! They are on their way, that's for sure! They gave me a gift bag and the sweetest card that all of them wrote on. AHHH. I love them. When they get sealed in the temple as a family I'll totally fly back to Toronto! Anyways, the Stotharts had us over for dinner. I LOVE THEM. K, I need to write some highlights from last week...

DOWNTOWN: Rivera, the best YSA ever, took us to downtown Toronto and we had such a blast. We went to the Rogers stadium and I saw the Blue Jays field!!! They had a game that night (and they won) so it was super exciting for me to be there!! We went to the CN Tower and just walked around China Town! OH! Rivera's mom works in this really tall building so we went to visit her and saw such a cool view of the city! She was so nice to let us come stop by her work. Being in the city brought back so many memories from when I served in Weston and Toronto YSA and I couldn't stop smiling. I also just love cities and love people so it was just a super happy day! Well until the end when we got lost and jumped on the back of the street car without paying (we were running late and were planning on putting in the token when we got off but forgot) then got in trouble by the cops when we got off because we didn't have a transfer ticket! HAHA They were able to fine us like $200... but they didn't. BLESSINGS. Overall the day was so happy.

MARYANNA: She's a new investigator in Milton, who I was so sad to leave. She is going to be baptized in 2 weeks and she came to church on Sunday and loved it. She first met missionaries when she went to Hawaii and visited the cultural center. She felt the spirit and didn't want to leave. Well she made a lot of friends and is planning to go BYU Hawaii next year! She's so cool and hilarious and I can't wait to see pictures of her baptism! 

STEVE: He wasn't baptized on Sunday. We all decided that he needed a couple more weeks to prepare. But he's still on the right track. He cried when I said bye to him on Sunday night. And he was saying how grateful he was for me and Sister Morgan. It was really sweet. Oh he actually gave me a hug and it was the most awkward thing of my life because I was saying, "oh sorry, we can't hug." And he said, "it doesn't matter" and hugged me anyway. Ha. So my arms were just dangling down and I was leaning away and Sister Morgan and I were laughing. Ha. I tried to be obedient! 

LAZAR: We met him a couple weeks ago on the street and he wanted us to meet his family. On Thursday we had the best first lesson with all of them! It was such a perfect lesson. The whole family was gathered and everyone was participating and the parents were testifying to their kids and wow - it was unreal. The 18 year old understood everything so well. When she saw a picture of Joseph Smith with Peter, James, and John, she said, "Oh they had to bring the authority back because it wasn't on the earth." UM YES!! Ahhhh this family is so prepared and we got 5 new investigators that night who are so promising. Another reason why I was so sad to leave Milton. :( But don't worry, I'm still praying for them. 

TEMPLE: We got to go to the temple on Saturday! I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. The only bad thing on the mission is that you can only go to the temple ever 6 months. When I come home I want to go to the temple ALL DAY EVERYDAY. Ha JK but I really do want to go a lot! It was so cool to have President and Sister Clayton in our session. Wow - I love them so much. 

CORNFEST: On Saturday night our ward had a cornfest and it was the happiest party to end my time in Milton. Holy Smokes. The Oakville ward has so many amazing, fun families and when everyone gets together, whoa: PARTY TIME. So Saturday night was awesome. We had so many less active members and investigators come. Aileen and her family came and the ward was so good with welcoming them in! They had such a great time there. So there was a barn dance and nobody was really doing anything at the beginning so as missionaries we felt like it was our responsibility to help them out, right? The good news is Sister Morgan and I practiced the night before in our apartment so we taught everyone a couple of line dances and it blew up. Everyone was joining us on the dance floor and 1 hour later we all looked sweaty and nasty but had the biggest smiles on our faces. HAHA. There was a bon fire and Sister Morgan had her first smore so that was happy too. We eventually had to go and when we got home we planned and then passed out. Our feet and bods were so sore! HA. But what a fun night! 

BRANTFORD: My new area... It's always hard the first week, just because it's new and you miss everyone from your last area. But I do like it here and I love my new companion Sister Vance! She's awesome! We are actually pretty similar so we get along really well. I'm way excited to be a sister training leader! At first I was nervous and scared but now I'm just excited to meet all the sisters and go on exchanges with them. It's going to be an awesome transfer! We cover 2 zones and Sister Bott is one of our sisters!! Ah, I was so happy when I saw that. And she's training this transfer. Wow - she'll do such a good job. There are 4 new missionaries in our zones that we cover! YAY! I really hope that I can help these sisters find joy in the best work there is! 

OK I don't know what's wrong with me. These last few weeks I've written so much! Sorry!

OH! Guess what else is so awesome? Benjy e-mailed me for the first time in 1 year! My little brother lives :) 

Love you playas!! 

 BLUE JAYS

 CN TOWER

  I love Sister Morgan. 

 Temple trip with Sister Morgan! 

 CORNFEST TIME. with Ashly and Bella! 

 Chois

Saunders