HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKYLER!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKYLER!!!!!!!

You're flippin' old now. What are you, like 30?!?!? Good stuff. Go do something crazy for you Birthday. Like wrestle a bear or rob an orphanage. Something fun like that!!

So this week has been a lot of saying goodbyes, because I thought I was going to get transferred, and I was right!! Drum roll...

I'm heading up to BRAMPTON!!! Which is where the Toronto Temple is. Technically my area is called Chingacousy Park, because I'm back in an all Spanish area with an all Spanish Ward!!! So I'm pretty pumped about that. My new companion's name is Elder Hansen. I've met him a couple times, but don't know too much about him. I'm still a District Leader. AHHH. But I'll suck it up. My companion, Elder Olson is also becoming a District Leader and my good Peruvian friend, Elder Leyton, is coming down here to work with them. I'm so excited for both of them.

So this last week, we had a lot of dinner appointments and goodbye appointments:

Monday we had a GREAT time. All the District came down and we went and got All You Can Eat Sushi and did some other things (aka Sauna Party!!! :) Later we had a dinner with Ron and Norma Sandor. They are a wonderful couple in our Branch that we very sad to see me leave. Later on Monday, we had an absolutely incredible Family Home Evening with the Velasquez family. I invited Javier (the investigator) to be baptized, and he said yes. He really wants to and I'm so excited to hear about his baptism. :} We also taught the Plan of Salvation and watched a video on Jesus Christ and played a really fun game about Death!!

Tuesday we went by a lot of people and found a lot of people at home. So that was great. One of our favorite members, Jim Renick, took us out to dinner. He had also been invited to our dinner appointments on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday; so we said "Hey. You might as well take us out to dinner on Tuesday and hit records. Four days in a row with the missionaries." So he did. He's such a great guy. Later that night, we had our first English Class in Leamington!! Three Hispanics came, and we were able to show them around the chapel and they all said they'd come back. So that was super great.

Wednesday we watched the Missionary Devotional in Chatham. It was super good. They changed our schedule quite a bit. Like no more daily planning at the end of the day, longer P-Days, stuff like that. I'm happy with it all, except that our lunch time is cut to half an hour. President Shields has the last say on everything though, so we'll see what he says. The overall reason for the schedule change is for missionaries to be able to adapt their studies and scheduling around their teaching appointments and meetings, so they're basically trying to make it more like real life. So when we come home, we will know how to schedule our studies and what not around work and school and real life. So that's really good. Getting me prepared for in a few months. ;)

Later on Wednesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Braedon Kimball from Lehi, Utah. Such a solid missionary. We had a great time. We had a dinner appointment with Peter and Helen Fiss (and Jim Renick) which was delicious, then we had Missionary Coordination there also. On the way home, we were running really low on gas, but I had the faith that we could make it to the next gas station (which was like two minutes away). But my faith was not enough, so the car started to sputter and when I pulled over, it died completely. It was 9:00 PM, our curfew, so we were like "What are we going to do??" The walk to the gas station would have been too long and we didn't have anything to put the gas an. So we knocked a few doors and found Braydon. He was SO sweet. He had a gas tank and he offered to drive us to the nearest station. We got our gas and made it home by 9:15 PM. And we gave Braydon a card and invited him to church. So that was pretty sweet. 'Twas a good memory.

Thursday we met with some more members and said our goodbyes to many of them. We had dinner with Hadley and Barbara Pinch (and Jim Renick) which was delicious. OH YEAH!! I got really sick on Wednesday/Thursday/Friday too, so I didn't actually know if dinner was delicious because I couldn't taste anything. I got a nasty head cold/flu and I couldn't breathe at all through my nose. So that wasn't fun.

Friday we went up to Windsor to help the other Elders with some service. My sickness was pretty rough, so we ended up going to their apartment and I took a really long nap. By the end of it, I was feeling a lot better and all four of us got invited, by a member, to dinner at a Hispanic Restaurant. It was super fun. Great restaurant. Our waitress didn't speak Spanish though, so I was pretty upset.

Saturday, we helped a member move, had English Classes (but no one came :} and had a wonderful dinner with another member family (but not Jim Renick). So that was good.

Sunday we were blessed to see one of our investigators at church. She a mother named Laura and she's been trying to get out to church with her husband for a while, but she kept getting sick. Finally, she came out (her husband was sick, this time) and she really enjoyed it. I ended up giving a talk on Chastity, I mean, Charity, which supposedly was pretty good. Laura said she's going to come back with her husband and son next Sunday, so I'm excited for the other Elders to baptize them all. :}

Later on Sunday, we met with a man we found through this online ad website called Kijiji. He's a SUPER awesome guy named Chris who's going through a lot of problems in his life. He told us that he already believes that Joseph Smith could be a prophet and he LOVES the Book of Mormon. He had lost his first copy, and when we pulled one out and gave it to him, he lit up like a Christmas tree. It was SO cool. I'm SUPER excited to hear about his baptism. ;)

And now I'm here. I'm packed for the most part, because today we're driving two hours to London, where our District going to meet up for the last time and go to Smokes. I also made a cheesecake, so that'll be fun. After that, we're going to stay in Mississauga, my old area, overnight so we can get to Brampton early in the morning. We'll probably end up going by some people in Mississauga, so I'm pretty excited.

The Branch is super sad to see me go, but I got my goodbyes in and we took some great pictures. Jim Renick and I have matching cuff links (except his are gold colored) so we had to get a picture of that. Enjoy!!

One thing that really stuck out to me, in the Missionary Broadcast was the importance of Sacrament Meeting. Elder Oaks talked about it a LOT and he talked about how not only is it a very persuasive teacher for Investigators, but it will help missionaries stay active after their missionaries, if they partake of the sacrament worthily and correctly. And that applies to everyone. The sacrament is SUCH an important thing. It's the main reason why we come to church. Along with prayer and scripture study, Sacrament is one of the best ways to help us grow our testimonies and stay strong and active in the church. So go and partake of the sacrament. And enjoy it!!! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. Chao!! 

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