October 26, 2015

So I'm in transfer 11... That's crazy! But so far, it's been such a happy transfer! We taught 25 lessons this week, so we're staying busy! And I'm loving the people we are working with! So many great things are happening. The progression in this ward is unreal! Oh - and my companion, Sister Arnold and I are having the best time EVA. It's bad because sometimes we talk at night and forget to go to sleep... but we'll get better at that. :)

TRANSFERS: It was so sad to say bye to Sister Vance! But man, she's going to kill it in the GTA!! Her baby is so lucky!! I was SO glad I was able to say Sister Morgan before she left!! She brought me Barbie, who I haven't seen in a long time, and man, it was so good to see her again. I can't believe she's done with her mission! She'll totally kill it in Taber, that's for sure! :) Then I found Sister Arnold! Man, what a blessing! We were super good friends in the MTC so I was so excited to be her companion. AND she's served in Brantford before and already has really good relationships with the members here, so that's awesome.   

MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK: I completely agree with President Gordon B. Hinckley who taught: “So many of us look upon missionary work as simply tracting. Everyone who is familiar with this work knows there is a better way. That way is through the members of the Church. Whenever there is a member who introduces an investigator, there is an immediate support system. The member bears testimony of the truth of the work. He is anxious for the happiness of his investigator friend. He becomes excited as that friend makes progress in learning the gospel.” Man, this is SO TRUE. Jordon introduced his friend Nikki to us and now she's a progressing investigator! It's so cool to see how feeling supported by a friend has helped her so much. We have another member in the ward who brought his cousin to church yesterday and is having us over for dinner on Thursday to introduce us to him! YAY. And we have a primary girl who brings her friend, Josephine each week! Our primary program was last Sunday and we knew the Josphine would be participating in it, so we called the members and invited them to invite Josphine's parents to church so they could see Josephine. And they came!! We have another member who prayerfully looked over the ward list to see who is needing a missionary visit. He gave us 22 names so we started contacting them. And wow - they really are prepared and ready to make changes and come back! We found two new returning members that we are now working with. AHHH. Member work is so happy. So I want to invite each of you to be more involved in missionary work. Helping a non-member or a member who might be struggling! THEY NEED YOUR TESTIMONIES! 

FHE: We had a FHE with a bunch of people in the ward who don't have families around and it was such a blast. A lot of people who came are also converts and don't have a ton of support from friends. We watched the mormon message, "Dare to Stand Alone" by President Monson. Then we had a discussion of how we find strength to stand up for our beliefs. Then the recent converts bore their testimonies. It was super spiritual and everyone just felt so united. THEN we played this super awesome game! I can't remember what it's called but where you have a bowl of names and you have to describe the person on the paper. I picked up Bautista and just because everyone talks about the blue jays I know who that is. So I was like, "he plays for the blue jays, and he's a super good hitter, like he's hit a lot of home runs this season!" So people guessed it then a member was like, "uh... how do you even know about him." HA. I guess I just listened to investigators when I asked how they are doing and they start talking about the Blue Jays. But our team totally won!! It was such a fun night! 

FAMILY HISTORY: So not going to lie. I didn't really spend time on family search at all before my mission and I'm still kind of a rookie when it come to how it works but my desire to do it more when I go home has increased a lot! So that's good. This last week we had a cool experience with our recent convert, Ashley. We're all going to the temple onNovember 7th to do baptisms and confirmations and this last week we started her family history so she can take her own family names!! We opened her account and she started putting in the information that she had! By the end of the session she had 10 family names that she printed off to take to the temple! YAHOO!! It was so cute to see how excited she was about it! I seriously can't wait for next Saturday!!! OH - and on Sunday she was interviewed by the Bishop and got her temple recommend! YAHOO. 

RETURNING MEMBERS: President Clayton is always talking about how reactivation is just as important as baptism. Which is SO TRUE. We've been working with Brother Irwin for a while and this past Sunday he was interviewed and received a temple recommend! It's so exciting because he hasn't been active for about 40 years and he's completely come back! He loves the Doctrine and Covenants and spends all day studying church history. He will also be at the temple with us on November 7th. It's crazy to see the change in him, even these past 7 weeks. The Gospel truly is all about progression and one of my favorite things about being a missionary is I get to see that change! 

Man, I can't remember any other funny stories... Sorry playas. K I love you all a lot and hope you have a super awesome week!

Sister Dayton 

Sushi with the Sistas!

Reunited with Sister Morgan and Barbie.