Mar 24...the first exchange

So sorry but this week is going to be shorter than last week....

so we have been doing a lot of online proselyting which is fun! If you ever see a post or something that you like please share it, comment on it, and help me be able to do this right so we can use this time most effectively... Its weird to see things from everyones page but I know that this is going to make a HUGE difference!

Then we went to Prince Albert that was super fun!!!! We went up there for exchanges and on our way we saw a bear... just chillin on the side of the road... yep it was weird.... then we did some touristy stuff which probably isn't the best but it was super fun! then i spent a day with sister Du Plessis... she is from africa... but she's white... and came from Germany.... we got lost a lot but it was super fun and at their service opportunity they have something called the diabetes treasure chest... free candy and gatorade for missionaries.... LOVE IT!

But i think our miracle this week was S*** and her family.... they were a media referral and we are now teaching their family.... their little boy  said he wanted to get in time out all the time so he can read the book of mormon so cute! 

On saturday our primary did primary olympics which was fabulous... such a good idea... got some good ideas for fhe in the future... LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Mar 17...It's a # week

Okay so this week was full of so much more stuff than last week! It was fun... a little crazy but fun!!!! and me and sister Mcphee found hash tags and quotes that helped us explain our week, with some background stories to it too of course! 

Monday:

#whencompanionsbecomefamiliy#itsgenetic.... we got a phone call friday night telling us that one of sister Mcphees old companions is getting married... to another companions brother... so literally companions are becoming family... sister in laws to be more precise and its really fun! So we decided we are going to pull this cousin thing as far as we can... even though we are so far back it doesn't even make a difference in anything it makes a difference in our hearts... so we are family and that wont change... but that also means when anything goes wrong we can blame it on genetics. which means its genetics comes up frequently because nothing ever goes as planned as a missionary!

Tuesday:#B

We had district meeting and it was seriously one of the greatest district meetings ever! I swear they just get better and better each time. My new district leaders name is Elder Bee... when they told me that i thought the B was to stand short for something like Barton or something but no its Elder Bee... like a bumble bee... and this was his first district meeting... it was on patience and feeling the spirit which ended up being exactly what me and sister mcphee needed for the week... i love how in tune people are sometimes. So we talked a lot about district goals and then me and sister mcphee made some personal goals... Some of the district goals we made were to have seven lessons a week (our area seems to be a little different then the provo mission), baptise two people as a district this transfer, and study 15 min of the book of mormon as a companionship... the hardest one so far has been the fifteen minutes since it usually finds itself at the end of each day around 10:15 but we are gonna keep at it for sure. And then i made a personal goal to finish the book of mormon this transfer... I am in the middle of alma and think i can do it... i hope i can do it.... :P but my favorite part about districts is the fact that we are held accountable for our goals so this transfer we are going to "BEE" accountable to each other... get it.... bee... haha.... Then we went to basketball night and that is always a blast... and I couldn't even believe how ineffectively i was using that night... im really glad sister mcphee is helping me get better at that to really improve my missionary work at things like basketball night. 

Wednesday:#defectivedependentdelinquint

This day was a little slower than most... but I think my favorite part of wednesday was our family history center shift... I love finding stories and documents to help people get excited about family history work and the things that can happen there... this week i found a document for John Cunningham... not sure where he is on the line but he is there... and it put him in the Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent classes.... So THATS where that comes from! haha jk... that one definitely isnt genetic it just happened by chance!

Thursday:#T

We called Thursday T for tornado day...... and it seriously felt like everything exploded all at once it was fun! We had an entire morning of service which ended in me swimming to my car almost literally (where was a camera when you needed it, oh wait it was in the car) The water was so deep and i wasn't wearing my boots so i had to take of my shoes and wade in icy water to get to the car..... only in saskatoon does negative to positive so fast make it feel like you are noah in the ark.... but its okay we made it and we just kept swimming from there. We were able to go thirty minutes out to a small town called Warmen for dinner with a member and that was a blast. then we made it back into town in just enough time to find out the wildwood sisters got in a car accident.... 

-okay i think i need a side note to explain STL for a little bit.... a sister training leader is a lot like a zone leader... we are in charge of certain sisters in the mission and we do exchanges and stuff and we get phone calls for emotional needs so elders don't have to deal with that stuff..... So i am one of the saskatoon STLs which means i cover three different sets of sisters... wildwood and meadow green are in the city and prince albert is about two hours away and we love it when they call and stuff.... 

So we were able to meet them at the church and make sure everyone was okay... sister hutchinson wanted lots of hugs.... the best part was their story that came with the accident... apparently this HUGE truck totally crashed into them but did that stop the guys in the truck from asking them out to dinner.... NOPE.... so they had to turn down a free dinner and call the office to tell them that they no longer had a car...talk about a bummer night... 

Friday:

#21.1.22 We had an emergency MLC (mission leadership council) to talk about facebook... MLC has a lot of people invited now... and we do it by skype, which means we got to see newpawl, moosejaw, regina, thompson, winnipeg, kenora, and us.... talk about covering all the corners possible haha. and yes i now officially have facebook! But the meeting lasted about three hours maybe a little more and it was all about the guidelines with facebook.... but the best part of the meeting was the fact that the saskatoon zone finished hymns before anyone else in the mission... apparently we just like a better tempo up here in saskatoon. Then we just kept going from there.. i set up my account... we tried a couple of things... it was really nice when we got to see the meadow green sisters... we picked them up from their service opportunity and took them home (they are walking) it was funny because we have a ghetto area that both us and meadow green sisters work in so while we were waiting for them at the soup kitchen we started hearing people scream and shout... i was like oh man can we be jumped here... sister mcphee responded its okay thats why i locked the door.... we really arent in any danger but its nice to know that my companion has my back. its sad because we got to see the meadow green sisters again that night, and not for a fun visit this time either... one of our sisters moms died and it was really sad but she was doing so good about it and the dozen donuts we brought im sure helped.....it was nice to be able to physically be there for them even if we didnt do much. This is the first time thats been possible for the sisters. 

Saturday:

It seemed to be full of dangerous adventures again... we were walking down the street... and here in canada the people plug in their cars... it was dark... and we saw a lighted up plug and sister mcphee found a perfect hash tag.... #isthatabomb.... of course it wasnt and there was no way it could be but you can tell youre a missionary when its late and youre tired and a lighted up plug in looks like a bomb... we also had another you can tell when..... you can tell your old when facebook and online proselyting is scary... I did my first hour of online proselyting on friday and it wasnt as easy as i thought it would be... Facebook has changed a lot in a year and i still feel like im breaking rules even though i have been given the approval for it because i have been out for so long and it wasnt allowed for even longer than that... it will just take some getting use to thats for sure. 

Sunday: #love

 I learned how to say i love you in tagalog... that was fun... We also were able to go to choir practice (i love the music we are singing but theres so many high notes... they are hard to hit) Then we spent the evening with the meadow green sisters... she showed us pictures of her mom and talked about her family and i was so honored to be there with her. She said "I dont know what I did in heaven to deserve my family" it was so incredible to see such a powerful woman take such a great turn on a tragic event.... and it really made me reflect on how much i love my famliy! 

It was SUCH A GOOD WEEK!!!! im excited for the adventures of this next week!

                                          Jessalyn's new companion and distant cousin, Sister Mcphee

                                         Sister Hutchinson "back in the same city" reunion

                                          baking with sister McPhee

Mar 10...transfers

Okay so this week was full of changes but it is going to be such an exciting transfer! Me and Sister McPhee are so excited for everything!!!!! but we are going to start with a excerpt from lovely Sister T Hutchinson!

 

 

What is up? So this is the best and the weirdest thing ever. I am back within range of the excellent J Harrison, and that makes my life so so good. Transfers were this week. Sister H got a new companion, one of our trainers old companions SIster Mcphee. She is the absolute BEST!! I also left the states where I was doing time and finally got to be heeeere! SOccer night was a success, Sunday was hectic for all parties involved, and P-day is the best day. :) Ok. Back to Sister H...

 

 

 This week was transfer week and it was crazy but im so happy to be in this area around the people i love so so much...

Because everyone was leaving we had a lot of goodbyes to say which are hard if you are the one staying... then i got put with a temporary comp Sister Smith... who is fabulous... and we had so much fun... a member made us a cake because we were sad and we thought it would just be a normal cake but no... it was an intense cake with the best filling ever... so nice... then we finally got our companions... sister mcphee is fabulous.... we are relatives.. and i already love her to death... its going to be such a great transfer... sorry we will look for stories as the week goes on... im awful at writing but know that i love you!

Mar 3... trial by baptism

Okay.... 

So this week was so much fun and full of craziness I really hope I can do it justice. 

We will start with monday... Monday we went over to the cook families house and Jay was in so much pain we didnt know what we (as sisters) could do to help him.... but luckily the elders are a phone call away. So they are super helpful especially when they come over and give Jay a blessing. The priesthood is seriously one of the most powerful things!!!! If anything my mission has taught me how to righteously rely on the priesthood and trust more fully in the genuine council from god! 

Then tuesday came and it was a fabulous district meeting where we got to learn more about christlike attributes... Elder Wiltse is seriously a fantastic missionary and district leader and the spirit was so strong.... we did it where he called on people to give portions on christlike attributes they think they are good at. Of course he decided to pick on me and honestly i don't feel like i'm very good at any of them but i choose to do it on the one god has taught me the most on my mission... and that is patience.... i hope i'm getting better at it... i learned a lot about it by studying it. Then we went to go see a less-active and she told us the craziest story.... Her daughter died of cancer and her last wish was not to meet an apostle... no her last wish was to meet an apostles wife... so of course they helped her wish come true. She got to go and meet sister monson (this was like years ago) and that is super special! But it gets even better. After meeting sister Monson they decided to let her meet President monson so this less active sister got to meet president Monson and a lot of the twelve. It was the greatest story ever! Then we went to go see Jay and Sheila and we got a phone call to meet them at the mall instead... which is weird... but we did and they proceeded to tell us that their gas line was leaking and it wasn't safe for them to be at their house.... yep the things that happen before your baptism. So we met them at the mall and had a lesson in the food court. It's funny how the spirit can work in the weirdest of places. Then we got to play basketball that night.... I LOVE BASKETBALL!!!!! and this week i got to be on the dream team... we played so much i was sore the next day... its fun to find unique ways like that to do missionary work. 

On Wednesday we went to our Iranian friends house. We found out some fun information about their family and then were able to have a very serious question about prophets.... its so hard to tell someone about prophets and the importance of them and what you believe when they don't believe there is a God. Then we again stopped by the Cook family (you will figure out we saw them every day this week, i would TOTALLY suggest it on the week of baptisms... something ALWAYS happens) The gas pipe was still leaking... jay passed out because of it... and we spent that time getting Sheila calm and helping bring the spirit into their gas filled home. It was fun and we got to spend that time getting to know them better as people not just as investigators.... they are seriously an INCREDIBLE family. 

On thursday we had the food bank in the morning... the friendship inn (a soup kitchen) again in the afternoon, and transfer calls...... so drum roll.... I get to STAY!!!! i'm so excited but it always comes with a catch... Sister Mcphee will be my new companion (so excited for that. i have wanted to serve with her my entire mission) and we will be sister training leaders for two zones of sisters... so i get to do exchanges and other fun official stuff..... hence the catch haha. Then back to Jay and Sheila... we had dinner at their place and it was fabulous... i swear they always give us like a feast! it was good we talked about enduring to the end then had arm wrestling wars... ya we have learned how to relate anything to the gospel... 

then friday....  friday we did bingo and moved...all day... old people get way to intense with bingo and moving.... i need to work out more... but it was a good day. 

Then saturday came and the best day ever!!!!! it was -55 degrees that morning and what are we doing.... ya we are moving jay and sheila... they moved the day of their baptism.... so 12 of the elders in the city... so all the elders in the city came and helped us move that family... we got it done in an hour and no frost bite... then jay and sheilas baptism.... it was the best day ever... they got baptized... ITS INSANE!!!! then we had another baptism... then they drained the font and forgot about the third baptism.... so we filled it up in fourty five minutes.... it was such a good day and a good week.... LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

Feb 24...sickness and member splits

So this week we decided to take turns catching the flu.... but getting the flu in a tripan has its perks... We were able to do member splits a lot easier which made getting to know the members on a personal level a lot easier because well you are with them... a lot... by yourself. so that was fun! Me and lousie one of our recent converts got to go to the food bank and found some great treasures there including a necktie for one of our elders made out of turqoise!  And i got to have a phillipino companion (also a recent convert) to be my companion for a phillipino meal... that was good! I really love this area so much... i will be so sad if i have to leave this place.. I love saskatoon! But.......

I think the highlight of my week was jay and sheilas family though! they have progressed so much and we are so excited for their baptisms this weekend... :) they taught us family home evening this week, so cute, and want to have a feast with us before their baptism! i love this family with all my heart! please keep them in your prayers and know that they make a difference! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Feb 17...Valentines and Olympics

So this week was GREAT!

On Tuesday we got a lot done... at least we felt like we did.... We were able to have an appointment with J*** and S*** with the elders and that went really good... we taught about tithing and fasting and J*** pretty much wanted to give up a tenth of his coin collection because he is just so committed, we told him it was just ten percent of his increase after he is baptised. This family is just so committed. The parents passed the baptismal interview this week and the family is getting baptised on March 1.... its so close and time just goes by so fast its insane. Then we met with two less actives, one thinks she is fully okay doing what she is doing because she reads and prays and is just taking a "break" from church... that is always slightly annoying. I don't think i ever realized the importance of church until my mission and it has changed my view forever! Then we met up with the other less active who has decided to believe in the trinity.... concerns like that basically boil down to if Joseph smith was a prophet... Because if Joseph smith was a prophet then he saw Jesus Christ standing on the right hand side of God... two separate, perfect, immortal beings. I am glad that i know for myself that Joseph smith is a prophet... and I'm glad my  mission has solidified that testimony into my heart. That night we had dinner with a young couple from southern Alberta and those appointments are always fun because we talk about Waterton and other things that I know about!!!! plus the young couples in our ward have the CUTEST kids! Then we got to play basketball I LOVE BASKETBALL!!!!!

On Wednesday we got to go to bingo with old people... I think the best part was the CURLING IN THE BACKGROUND!!!!! I am really sad i am missing the Olympics because the winter Olympics are HUGE up here! i feel so torn... i have my american pride but canada is also holding a piece of my heart.... bahhhh... what to do!  Then we went to a dinner appointment with one of the ysa girls in our ward. It was fun.. Sister Ashton-Korn got eaten by a car... she was on the phone when she slipped down and fell underneath a car, she just kind of stayed there and was like HELP... HELP... and we were horrible and just sat there and laughed.. This ysa sister lives in the weirdest looking dorm i have ever seen... and while we were eating our deliciously healthy dinner of brown rice, chicken, and broccoli the fire alarm started going off... me and sister davis scarfed down our last bites, sister ashton-korn just left the chicken she had left and our member calmly put on boots and a coat and we started walking down THIRTEEN flights of stairs... needless to say, Sister Ashton-Korn did not get to finish her chicken, we had to leave before our member got let back in, and we had an adventure on our hands. 

On Thursday we went and helped out at the food bank like we always do and were privileged enough to bag dog and cat food for three hours... we smelt like dog food for the REST OF THE DAY!!!!! Then we helped clean with a member and I've decided that four people cleaning a small room is never a good idea ... so i sat on the bed and watched... i was the cheerleader and i did a dang good job at it. Then we went and taught Lelia and Tori about obedience... we played red light green light... if my mission hasn't helped me come up with creative ways to teach children while doing family home evening then I'm a liar and my mission is pointless... seriously so many creative was to keep kids attention involved in the lesson, have fun, and still learn about Jesus... I LOVE IT! Then we called the ysa aged kids for TWO HOURS to get the word out about a valentines day party that happened on saturday... did it make a difference... no but i will get to that on saturday. 

Friday we had specialized zone training meeting and it was fabulous... Six hours of sitting and listening with a forty min pizza break... totally the life of a CWM missionary. But i think my favorite part of ZTM was Sister Thomas' portion on preparedness... She used chapter 43, 49, and 50 of Alma and talked about how they NEVER stopped preparing and because of that nothing was left to chance. Then she gave us three steps to better prepare ourselves... 1. prepare thoroughly 2. prepare spiritually 3. prepare through prayer. I really just learned a lot from zone training meeting... it was fabulous... and it was great to see president too! oh and happy late valentines EVERBODY!!! love you all... 

The real valentines day celebration happened on saturday... One of my old investigators from when i served in wildwood called and i invited her to the ward party they were having and she agreed to come... then we decided i should probably go because she only knows me and so i got to go back to my old ward for the day.... it was fun... the elders dressed up in boas and took pictures, there was sugar cookie decorating, and lots of little kids that were really excited about the doughnut eating contest. Then we got to participate in a ysa valentines day party and dinner and that was fun! We wish we could get more ysa kids out but unfortunately that is easier said then done. The missionaries that were invited to attend made up half of the crowd that was there... So eleven missionaries attended... and about twelve ysa kids.... we are horrible valentines dates if you ask me... we cant even spend alone time with you.... But it was really fun!

Sunday was church and church is always fabulous....I love the sacrament so much and its my favorite thing of the week to be able to take that... We had five investigators show up to church.... The C** family came and the ward has been so great at picking them up and taking them home and then another one of our other investigators showed up.. that was fun... Then Sunday night we got to sing... right now the missionaries make up the stake choir... hopefully that changes soon because we have HORRIBLE voices. but if all else fails the spirit will bring the real music to all of their hearts... :/ ... we will need the spirit for sure...

Pdays for the rest of the transfers will include the missionary Olympics... we thought since we were going to have to miss the winter Olympics why not make our own... So each district is its own country and we compete for medals and everything... our first competition was tie tying. meadowgreen won that for sure.. but if you ask me they cheated.... Then it was chair soccer and we took gold silver and bronze in that one.... and then we did a nasty food eating contest which consisted of two baby food bottles, a can of vienna sausages, and a can of mustard flavored sardines... unfortunately i was the only one brave enough to attempt the sardines..... but i chowed those down and my other teammates did their part and we won gold there too!!!!!! So all in all the district olympic standings are...

Wanuskewin.... 2 gold, 2 silver and one bronze

Meadowgreen... 1 Gold and 1 Bronze

Wildwood... 1 Silver and 1 Bronze.... 

GO TEAM WANUSKEWIN!!!!!

Feb 10...service and plagues

This week we got to do a lot of service... it was so much fun! We got to go to the clothing depot which we do every week but this week was really disappointing when it comes to the treasures we found... But we were able to score some shoe polish for the elders so that is always good. Then we got to go to the friendship inn which is like a soup kitchen and the guy was really grumpy that I had to stay with my companions. But we got past it. We got to help serve old people, clean up peoples trays, and make friends with those who decided to come and eat. Personally the staff was my favorite because they were all rough first nation people that were SUPER protective of us... it was fun! But I got a really good story out of the trip, its kind of fictional, kind of not. So once upon a time something sketchy happened and i found myself alone in the bathroom with an elder and another guy (remember this story is fake even though there is some truth to parts of it... ill have to tell you the real story in parenthesis)  So how i got into the bathroom was a story all in itself... so i got kidnapped at knife point by a first nation gang member (who is actually a really nice staff member at a food bank who used to be a gang member) and an elder came in to rescue me... (really we were just asked to help clean the bathrooms) As he came in to save me he got stabbed... poor fella... (when really we just got to see a scar from a stabbing) and i tried to stop the bleeding but it was hard to see with the black lights  (which is true, they use black lights so the people cant 'shoot up' because it is extremely hard to find your veins with black lights) in the end that poor elder died (when really he just got stuck backing up the car)  personally i like my version better than the real one but i will let you decide for yourself. 

Mom... its a dream come true for you! im totally getting married off!!! not for real but funny..,. We are working with some investigators who are from Iran and they speak Kurdish and well its all very complicated but the best part of this story is that they have two sons... they are 22 and 20 and their parents are determined we are going to marry their sons... We officially got adopted into the family this week and we have heard arranged marriage talk be whispered in a language we don't understand... we have even been invited to join them on a trip to Iran, they want us to go see their home country.... We were hoping with the whole tripan thing the marriage talk would decrease but every time they go off on a tangent in their own language i swear they are talking about us.... i mean really?! But we put on a smile and get our milky white creamy temptation skin out of there as soon as possible and laugh because of how much we love this family! the language barrier is getting easier the more comfortable they are getting with us.... just afraid of the cost it is coming at... (i hear the wedding bells ringing in the background i better stop talking about this)  But the family is reading the book of mormon... we just have to try to get past the whole jesus is only a prophet nothing else concept.. but we are getting there... and im learning kurdish... im going to fail, but im still learning.

So we are dealing with the plagues of the wanuskewin sisters this transfer.... 

Want to hear what they are?!

1. broken toe- sister akorn it was so funny she tripped over my boot in the hallway, why she didnt just walk around my boot i have no idea but it was the beginning factor of these plagues of doom that haunt our companionship. 

2. nausea- again sister akorn. poor girl didnt feel like she could move her stomach was turning so bad... we still dont know what caused it but we blame it on the fact that petunia (our car) is purple.... it just makes sense. 

3. immobilizing cramps- sister davis. Luckily with some major ADVIL and a heating blanket provided my a loving mother we were able to get those under control in only thirty minutes :)

4. eye infection- poor sister akorn, personally i dont think her eye looked that swollen... but she thinks it was making her eye stick out of her head... i guess one of us is just blind but i swear i put in my contacts that day. 

5. late to district meeting- well we kind of give that one to elder wiltse but it was a really interesting morning. What happened was Sheila called us and asked if we could come over earlier, our member was able to come last minute, and we knew we had to get into that house and so we kind of decided to try to fit a member present in before district meeting... i should have known that it was cutting it too close with timing but we did it anyways and after apologizing profusely to elder wiltse i think he has finally forgiven us. 

6. torn arch on the left side- yep that was me. it hurt so bad to walk, we decided to street contact (meaning one of us wanted to chase down this guy in blue) and i almost puked just trying to keep up... i got a blessing the next day and am feeling so much better. 

7. bonkin the noggin- Sister akorn (we think she is really the cursed one) she hit her head on petunia three times... i thought for sure she was just trying to get petunia back for the nausea but she swears petunia was attacking her... petunia was pretty quiet on the matter so i guess none of us will ever really know. 

8. The fake influenza epidemic turned into brain cancer but really is just a cold- yep and that one is sister akorns too! it was actually more frustrating then funny but luckily she is starting to feel better. 

So... with sister akorn getting sick and us having to stay inside because of her sickness... exchanges with the sister training leaders (I got to see sister fellows again!!! so great) and having to be in three places at once my week was really good... I am happy and excited for the future! Love you all!