September 21, 2015

Family!! Oh my goodness, a lot has happened this last week, that's for sure! I'm liking Brantford a lot more and I'm still loving Sister Vance! This was my first week of exchanges and that was super fun!! Oh - it's getting colder. That's not super fun but it's pretty! 

JORDAN: Our progressing investigator is still killing it! He loved church this last Sunday and came to the ward fireside that night! There is an awesome couple in our ward who is fellowshipping him into the ward so well! They give Jordan rides and come teaching with us and they're amazing. Jordan is getting baptized on October 4th so that's exciting! 

SARNIA: For my first exchange I went to Sarnia. It's kind of far away! But I was with Sister Daniels and it was so fun! We had a cool experience by the St. Clair river. (I could see Michigan!) We started talking to this guy who was just sitting on a bench starring at the peaceful river. SO we started talking to him and he told us he was deeply thinking about what his purpose in life is. HOLLA! We can help him out with that! Well I pulled out the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and we talked about it. He loved it and asked if he could keep the pamphlet. YES! Well he's a new investigator in Sarnia so I'm excited to hear updates when we call the sisters! :)

LONDON: My second exchange was with Hermana Guera in London. So she's a Spanish missionary so I learned a couple of phrases from her! The lessons were cool because I would just nod and smile! :) She's so awesome though! She was serving in the Spanish area in Weston. We were in the same zone for a couple of transfers and we taught ESL together. She's from Peru and is SO FUNNY. Funny story about that exchange. They teach ESL in that area and we decided to walk to the church instead of drive. Hermana Guera said it was a 15 minute walk. So we left 30 mins early so we could stop and talk to people! Well about 25 mins in she started walking a little faster and I asked if we were close, she was like, "yeah, like 5 mins. away" Well another 15 mins went by and we still weren't there. Yes, we were late. Yes, we felt bad. On the way home she said, "I've never walked to ESL but in the car it takes 7 mins. So I just doubled it and gave us a spare minute." BAHAHAHA! I couldn't stop laughing! We laughed a lot but we also were working hard, don't worry. Hermana Guera is like the best planner ever! Her lesson plans were so thoughtful and specific. I want to be better at that! 

RETURNING MEMBER: The other day Sister Vance and I were walking in a neighborhood and we started talking to this super nice, friendly lady. Well turns out her son is a mormon! She said we could go by so we did. He was baptized about 5 years ago and hasn't been to church in over 3 years. Well we had a super good conversation with him and he wants to start reading the Book of Mormon again. Yay! 

INVESTIGATOR: We went to the library to meet up with an investigator and he didn't show up. At first, we were bummed but then we met Kyle. He was confused because the library was locked and it was "supposed to be open." We showed him the library hours sign and he was like, "yeah, it's Saturday. It's open." UM... It was totally Sunday. Well he went on to tell us that he went to this crazy wedding party on Friday then he woke up and came to the library... hum, sounds like a CRAZY WEDDING. Anyways, he was a little confused but we started talking about the Gospel because that's what we do and he was super open. He grew up going to church each Sunday but fell away. He told us that he's noticed a difference and wants to get back on track. Well we told him about the Restoration and testified that that message could change his life for the better. We're meeting with him again this week! YAY!

ZONE CONFERENCE: We had another amazing meeting with the Claytons. We talked about the changes in the mission and how we can better implement them in our areas. As always, I left feeling so spiritually exhausted! It's the best. One thing that I thought was interesting was about returning members. We watched a video from a former mission president who was talking about how every member who left the church has an excuse but all of those excuses don't matter. We can't go back and change whatever happened. But as missionaries are our job is to help them feel the love of the Savior once again in their lives. One they do, they'll want to come back. Then we talked about what we can do to have the Spirit with us so they can feel the Savior's love through us. It was awesome! Super motivating. 

RANDOM THINGS:

-A girl in my ward served in Italy and her mission president was President Acerson. Small world. 

-I had 3 different meals where I found an animal hair in my food. That is the best way to lose an appetite. Ha. 

-Two people guessed I was from Utah when I introduced myself. I guess I still say, "Dayin"

-Densel (in Weston) got the Melchizedek priesthood this last week!! YAY! 

-Sister Vance and I were in a ward play. My acting skills are as bad as ever. I had to pray so hard that I wouldn't start laughing during the play... My prayers were answered!

I LOVE YOU ALL LOTS!

Sister Dayton