week 9...you know your a missionary when...

So A LOT has happened but everything is going great! I am still in the same area, my lovely trainer has just left us and we are off to fend for ourselves. We have had our ups and downs we have seen some weird things and we have enjoyed some of the most humbling experiences. It has really been great. Our district has changed so much. Elder Stoker got transferred to Milfred near Saskatoon. He is greatly missed but we know he is doing great things up there! We will see him again that's for sure. We got two new Gateway ward elders. Elder Moore and Elder Olguin, they are both wonderful! It also means we are working directly with nine elders. One of our London ward companionships got turned into a tri-pan. So many elders, so much work to do, not enough sister power but we are trying to represent the best we can. So I wanted to do this letter a little differently by making a list. Its a You Know Your A Can-Win (Canada-Winnipeg) Missionary When list... so here it goes

 

You Know Your a Can-Win Missionary When:

-You get anxious if you find yourself alone for more than five seconds.

-You start skipping songs on your LDS cd's because you think they may be inappropriate or against the white handbook.

-Your slang consists of words such as "pros, apostate, dramastic, and urch"

-Mondays become your favorite day

-You spend two hours of your day walking in the rain to get to an appointment who canceled but didn't tell you.

-9:30 officially becomes your midnight

-You don't dive for the volleyball during a pday activity because you might bump into an elder.
-That 10 min nap feels like a 4 hour coma

-You forget your planner at home and all of a sudden you have no idea what's going on, like a deer in the headlights

-If you aren't wearing your name tag you forget what your name is.

-In response to being asked on a date on the street you respond with the question "no but do you want to learn about the gospel".

-You hear the word 'awesome' and 'cool' and feel like someone just swore

-You went to the most simple, humble meal from a family who isn't doing well off but are filled all night and feel like the savior was present at the meal

-You get a text message from your mission president and feel like a celebrity just got ahold of your phone number.

-Getting mail makes you feel like a million bucks and then you realize you have NO time to respond

-Your dreams become lessons

-You realize you have eaten four balut eggs when in real life you wouldn't even want to eat one.

 

It really has been a great week. Amy surprised me by stopping by, she was visiting her aunt in Winnipeg... didn't even know she had an aunt in Winnipeg. It was a great surprise, a tender mercy from the lord. I have been given many tender mercies this week! I love my savior, I love this work, and I am proud to call myself a CAN-WIN missionary.

week#8 mothers day

Ummm can I just say MOTHERS DAY IS MY FAVORITE!!!!!!! I love being able to see your beautiful smiley faces and enjoy spending time with you even if it is only on skype. I also love being a missionary and man have I had some experiences to talk about. You know your a missionary when.... your idea of a daily prank is sticky notes of uplifting comments. That day we also walked an incredibly long amount!!! I gained a HUGE appreciation for walking missionaries... and I LOVE MY CAR!!! We named it, our cars name is Gaylin. Our car is beautiful, wonderful, and i will never take it for granted again. Well transfer calls came and as you know i get to stay with Sister Hutchinson! But it also means we lose sister Rush :( and elder Stoker :( so so sad. But thats okay elder Montoya couldnt get rid of us that quickly. I am so excited but so sad for this transfer. But when all else fails Phillipians 4:13 through christ anything is possible. I ate two baluts this week and ive actually grown accustom to them. They taste like turkey but a little bit more slimey. And I gave away gold stars this week. I LOVE MY STARS!!! Ok so right now my challenge is to not hug the elders... cuz i want to, so bad! Well... I feel like ive talked to much with today and yesterday. Whelp.... Have a great week! I love you!!!!! You will always be in my prayers.

and mom I got grandmas package! I LOVED IT!!!!!

week #7 Knock knock!

Ok here is a joke for you.

Knock Knock

Whose there?

Oink oink

Oink oink who?

Make up your mind are you a pig or an owl.

 

Funny huh?! One of the little boys in a less active family we are visiting told us that when we were over doing family home evening with. So cute! Ok so everything is random and out of order again but I remembered my notes at least!!!! YAY!!!! This week has been so much better. I have finally found my confidence and am able to start progressing now. It took a while but Im getting a hang of this missionary work and I LOVE THIS AREA! I would be willing to stay here my whole mission but I know change is inevitable, in fact we will find out where everyone is going to be placed this week! Its giving me butterflys already even though I know the lord wouldnt put me anywhere I couldnt handle. I think I have gained this confidence the most because we had another greenie day. This one was an actual 24 hours where me and Sister Hutchinson were on our own. I think it was what we needed to show us that we could do this without Sister Rush. That we are called and able to serve where-ever and in what-ever situation the lord wants us. Everything we did that day worked. We had spiritual moments and were able to accomplish real missionary work. It was wonderful.

Sooo I love Sister Rush but her driving is HORRIBLE! We believe that miracles are given with exact obedience because everytime we get out of the car without a car accident it feels like a miracle. She really needs to learn patience with her driving but like everyone keeps telling us she only has one speed and so we cringe in fear in the car.

 I have some moments from district meetings I wanted to share. "They wont care how much you know, until they know how much you care." Elder French (my district leader) was talking about our investigators but it works everywhere. No one really cares about all the knowledge that you may have until they know you are sharing it to try to help them. I think that will be a great improvement to my future family right there. Elder French is so inspired, I love our phone call check ups from him. Speaking of inspired elders.... Elder Montoya is SOOOO great! He came over one day and we were struggling on something and he just flat out looked at me and Sister Hutchinson and said, well just think what I would do, and decide from there. We both looked at each other, like if this didn't feel like a daddy lecture I dont know what would. It was wonderful, he is so encouraging and I LOVE IT! When it comes to our investigators we are having a hard time having people progress. Our one family from Sudan, three of them came to church with us, we had to take the bus with them and walk (we are trying to make them independent) but all of our other investigators have some hills we need to get over. The weather changes is having everyone's arthritis act up and so people dont want to meet. But it will happen, God has a perfect time for everything. Speaking of weather it was 25 degrees C today. It is beautiful and warm. I had a greenie moment this week. I went to go meet one of the investigators the elders are working with and was like "oh my name is jessa.... I mean sister harrison" talk about slightly embarrassing and the elders all wanted to know my name after that and called me a greenie. I just miss my first name so much.

 I made it to the center of Canada this week! Literally the center of Canada there was a sign and everything. We found a taco bell here. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven and so we have officially eaten there twice! It was like eating in rexburg all over again I LOVE IT!!!! We also went to the canadian mint and learned how the coins were made. It was a neat tour something really fun to do on pday besides just sports (even though I would prefer that). I got sick again and my companions sang me soft kitty. It made me tear up a little, they really care haha. I also found my favorite souvenier... it is a journal that is, ready for it, its a canada sweatshirt. Like literally its a sweatshirt shaped journal and I LOVE IT!!!!! We have had lots of pot lucks here and they are interesting. The amount of different cultures is incredible... We have hispanic cultures, phillipino cultures, and canadian cultures so Im sure you can just imagine the arrangement of food we are fed at pot luck. It is like a party in my stomach with all these delicious cultures I LOVE IT!!!! We also had this one saying which was really funny. We have a lot of one liners but my favorite was "where's my super suit". Sister Rush really has one speed and she thinks she can save the world but sometimes we are only human. So when she gets in her hero modes and we just cant follow we say "why do you need it" its a quote from incredibles (watch it, its hilarious, and then imagine a sister missionary trying so hard to find her super suit)

But Im going to end on a spiritual note. We went to this less active family, the one with the kids who tell jokes. Her son is adorable and we had taught them about prayer and had just stopped by randomly because it was the other kids birthday. We asked how they were doing on their prayers and he proudly said I have prayed every night. YAY!!! and then we asked if someone wants to say the closing prayer. His brother was goofing around so hes like FINE I WILL SAY IT! and he said the most beautiful humble prayer. It was just incredible. I LOVED IT WITH ALL MY HEART! Its moments like these where we see the importance of our work and bringing these families in and back to the gospel. I feel so humbled to be called to such an important calling. I love you all. Thanks for all your support!