Sunday, August 28, 2016

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!! (cue Aerosmith "Back in the Saddle Again)
Oh Ho Ho. It is SO GOOD to be back. Honestly. I LOVE the city!! And we're going to KILL IT this transfer.
I'm down Mom. I'll sing it when I come back. Only like a dozen people there will understand it, but heh, that's life. Sounds like life is just one big party over there. Yeah, here too. ;)
Woohoo!! Good work Sophie!!! That's SO COOL!! Why is the Flint family just unfairly talented. It makes everyone else look like a fool! I can't wait to see you ice skate when I get back Soph. Maybe we can do a partner ice skate. I'll use my strong muscles to lift you up and I'll skate around. Then you can lift me up. ;) No way?? I didn't even think Rhys had graduated from elementary school yet. Haha. That's SO cool though. I'm sure he'll have fun learning Japanese. Racist Mom. Not ALL Japanese people are small. Just 99% of them. :}
This week was off the charts. So I just won't write about it and tell you all when I get home. SIKE! Buckle up.
So last Monday (P-Day), we celebrated our last transfer as a District and had a District lunch at an All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Restaurant called the Mandarin. It was SWEET!! After we stuffed ourselves, I surprised one of the Sisters in the District, Sister Spencer, with a Surprise Birthday Chocolate Cheesecake (she had previously told me that was her favorite type of cake). It honestly was one of THE best cakes I've ever made. She was very appreciative. So we had a delicious time eating that cake, and then we went home and packed up our bags and cleaned up the apartment.
Tuesday (Transfer Day). After the zipper of my overfilled suitcase popped and I had to ingeniously put together a makeshift zipper to fix it. We met up with a bunch of other missionaries at Brampton, said goodbye to many (including the infamous Elder Kylan Erickson :), then we went to our new areas and got Right to work. My new companion, Elder Kyle Staheli is from Enterprise, Utah (yeah Utah, cream of the crop!!). Enterprise is down South by St. George, but close to the border with Nevada. He has twelve siblings I believe. He's a pretty quite guy, but we've already had a ton of fun and we get along great together. We met up with my favorite blind Mexican, Adalberto right after we lunched and then later that night, you guessed it, I taught MORE Portuguese people. It never ends for me. After English Classes, we gave a chapel tour to two new Brazilian students because the Portugues Elders (Zone Leaders) had to leave. I'm convinced that President Shields is going to put me in Portuguese work sooner or later. Revelation! Write it down.
The rest of the week consisted of me meeting the returning members we're working with and reuniting with other ward members I knew in the days. All we do now is work with inactive members. I just want to TEACH and BAPTIZE!!! It'll happen. Oh ho. It'll happen. We've been talking with a bunch of Spanish people and finding potential investigators that hopefully we'll start teaching soon. I contacted a Colombian family on the bus who said they weren't very religious (which is great because usually they're die hard Catholics). Hopefully we'll be able to teach them this week and baptize them the next one ;)
Yesterday, Sunday, was quite a day. After all the meetings and what not, we went over to a member family's house named the Lugos. He's the Ward Missionary Leader so he had all the Spanish/Portuguese missionaries over along with some RMs and a soon to leave missionary in the ward. It was a BLAST!! We had some delicious dinner and played lots of fun games, like Chubby Bunny (don't know what it is?? look it up ;) Kimbery Trujillo (a famous RM in Toronto), dared me to chug this sketchy bowl a Salad Dressing that was on the table in front of me. There really wasn't all that much so I asked her what she'd give me for it. She eventually promised to buy me a Soccer Jersey from Ecuador (which is where she's from), so I took the offer and chugged it. The dressing consisted of olive oil, salt, and an amount of vinegar that should never be consumed by the human body. I don't understand why my body didn't reject it and throw it up, but it didn't!! But the rest of that day my chest burned like crazy. Worth it?? Absolutely. And I'm excited to get my Ecuadorian Jersey very soon. 
Oh, and another great thing that happened this week was we were able to see a Prophet!! M. Russell Ballard, the man, the legend. Also Randall K Bennet, of the 70 was there accompanying him. I was playing the Organ for the meeting and as I was finishing "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" (for Prelude music), everyone started standing up because he walked in the door RIGHT next to me. He looked at me and said "Hey Elder." I so ingeniously said "Hey." Then he said "That sounded good." I again with my witty replies said "Thank you." Then he sat down. Before the meeting he wanted to shake everyone's hand, so the missionaries went up by rows (depending on where they were sitting) and shook his hand. Me, being on the stand, wasn't really sure where to go. So I didn't go anywhere. And by the time I was like "Maybe I should go now," he was already sitting down, so I thought "Eh, too late. That's life kid." But don't you worry. I got my handshake. Halfway through the meeting we took a break, which President Shields asked me to play some intermediate organ for, and once again Elder Ballard came in and finally came over and shook my hand. Last but not least. Not at all. ;) Later that day he gave another meeting to Ward Councils and we were able to watch that Broadcasted to our chapel, along with his Broadcast he gave Sunday morning to all of Ontario.
One of the things I really liked that Elder M. Russell Ballard said is that "It is impossible for the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to lead this church astray." Impossible. He talked about how this world has many different ideas and views and that even in the church there are some weird ideas and false doctrine floating around. He said that we MUST look to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They are our source of true doctrine and they will never lie to us. It was incredible to listen to the experiences he shared about his time with the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles. I've read their talks and I can testify that they are called of God. They are inspired and they are incredible, intelligent men that will never lead this church in the wrong direction. I invite you all to read or listen to their talks and follow their council. It's SO true. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Chao!!

Elder Staheli and I after we bought some Hispanic Caps. Viva Colombia!!

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