You are not alone

"You are not alone on this journey. Your Heavenly Father knows you. Even when no one else hears you, He hears you. When you rejoice in righteousness, He rejoices with you. When you are beset with trial, He grieves with you...He sees you not as the world sees you; He sees who you really are. He looks on your heart. And He loves you, because you are His child...seek Him earnestly, and you will find Him" -Pres Uchtdorf

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Christmas Miracles

     This week was crazy especially with Christmas. Most of our investigators that we are teaching told us to come back after Christmas so we did not have too many lessons this week but we were able to meet with someone that we met a couple weeks ago named Joes and it was a really good lesson. He has been really trying to change his life and to become better and he has been thinking about going back to church. He was a little skeptical about the Book of Mormon but we were able to explain it and told him how we just invite people to read it and to pray to ask God if it is true and he was very willing to find out for himself so it was a really good lesson!

     We were also able to meet with a guy names Matt that the YSA sisters found and he has been really prepared. He recently got into a really bad car accident and knew that he should not be alive but God saved him for some reason so he has recently quite drinking and smoking to change his life for the better and for his kids. It was such a great lesson and we had a great member there who was able to testify about how this message that we share will be able to help him change for the better and help him find true joy in his life. It was such a great lesson and our member gave him a ride and told him about church and Matt was really excited and wanted to come this Sunday! 
   This year we were also not allowed to visit with members all day on Christmas so Elder Hunter and I have some bikes so we took those out for most of the day and did a lot of finding and what was one of the Christmas Miracles was no one yelled at us for knocking on their door on Christmas which was awesome! We also dropped by a less active and he told us how he had called us a few hours ago and we never got a call but we just decided to drop by which was inspired! He told us how every time he needs the missionaries to come by we just show up! Then we were able to teach him and his wife, who is not a member, and had a really good lesson and what was even cooler about it was his wife normally does not sit in on the lesson and then after that we went to a dinner appointment and the member, The Gordon's, had their whole family, who are not members, there and we were able to share a great message about families and how important they are!
   This week has not been normal but has been really cool! Christmas is really different as a missionary but it is really great because all we do is teach about Christ even on Christmas!

Love Elder Slack

Time has come for new shoes




Had an interesting little chat with Will in regards to the 'ton' of snow they got in Abottsford

William Slack


to me
yep they fit really well though and are waterproof! which is nice because it snowed a ton here yesterday during church and when I say a ton I mean like 2-3 inches so not that much.

Christine Slack 

Dec 28 (2 days ago)
to William
well, when you grow up in Mesquite, 2-3 inches is a ton

William Slack

Dec 28 (2 days ago)
to me
yeah I know that is why I thought it was a lot and no one else did!

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

God always blesses us as we do our best and do all that we can, not always in the way that we expect but he always does

 Well this week has been crazy! We have had a ton of people to go by. It snowed here on Thursday and lasted for like 4 hours so it felt like I was back home when we get snow. I was glad because last year the snow was just cold and I thought when I got sent to Abbotsford that I would be free and clear from it but it is also supposed to snow on Christmas Eve so hopefully its not too cold



  This week we went to see an investigator that they were teaching named Nancy and what is really crazy is I remember meeting Nancy when I was here the first time. We have also knocked a lot of places that I knocked when I was also here the first time. One thing that I have really learned is that it does not matter if people have been talked to before or if a street was already knocked, people will be prepared! We have found so many people in places that I have already been. 
  We also had a huge miracle happen on Sunday. We saw a family that we are teaching on Saturday night and they said they were coming to church but they never came but a former and her daughter randomly came to church out of no where. We are now going to start teaching them again! It was so cool because we were supposed to have 4 people come to church but none of the people we had confirmed to come came to church but Laura and her daughter came. God always blesses us as we do our best and do all that we can, not always in the way that we expect but he always does.


Our Christmas Tree
Me and Ross, A member in Brookswood that we would visit every week and read the Book of Mormon with
Me and Elder Haase
   I have really learned a lot on how the Lord works and how the Lord always hastens his work and he will do it through us if we let him!
   Have a Merry Chirstmas and Remember what Christmas is really about!

Love Elder Slack

Monday, December 14, 2015

Round 2

Well, this week has been crazy and really weird mostly because I got transferred back to Abbotsford 2nd Ward and they had their Christmas party on Friday so I got to see all the members again and they all kept asking me if there was a reason I was back or if we were on splits or something but I had to tell them that I had been transferred back. They were all saying that I should just call this place home from now on. 
 
  Something else really crazy happened on Friday. So, there were 2 sets of Elders in the Abby 2nd ward and I served in the other one first and one of the other Elders in the other area was supposed to train a new missionary but the new missionary went home in the MTC so that Elder got sent up to Prince George and they closed his area and we took over their area so we are taking care of both areas until next transfer when they re-open the other area. So, I am in exactly the same area I was in 7 months ago. We have been teaching quite a bit and have been seeing a lot of success in the last few days and have been crazy busy trying to combine the two areas. So we have twice as many people to teach right now so it was kind of a blessing to us because our area was pretty slow when I got here but now we are crazy busy.

  I am really glad to be somewhere that I actually know because I really did not want to get transferred 3 weeks before Christmas but it's ok because I got transferred to one of my old areas! One of my favorite areas! This area is so amazing and really takes care of us. It is really crazy because when I left Abbotsford I always wanted to finish my mission here or in Kamloops 2nd and I didn't get to finish my mission but I did get to come back to Abby 2nd Ward so God does really answer prayers and I really can't believe that I got to come back.
 
Well gotta go Love ya Bye!

Love Elder Slack

Thursday, December 10, 2015

{Dec 7, 2015} A Night in Bethlehem

Well this was an interesting week with a lot of very funny moments, like yesterday we got to church and figured out that Elder Harris grabbed the wrong suit jacket so he was high priesting it to all of our meetings and to church which was pretty funny at least for me. Lately we have been talking to a lot of people that say they are not religious but they always say Merry Christmas. So, we were at one door and Elder Harris was talking to a lady and she told us that she was not religious even though she had a ton of Christmas decorations on her house and so he went to give her a card and said "we have a really cool video on this website all about Christmas and you don't have to love Jesus to love Christmas" and after the lady shut the door. I just about died laughing so hard but that is how the world seems to be now, that Christmas is just an event and not about anything more than presents and a big man in a red suit.
 
   Besides that we were able to have a really good week. Ken, the guy that Elder Mattingley and I Baptized received the Priesthood and we took him out to a lesson for the first time so that was Awesome! I has been really great to see how much he has grown and changed from this gospel! He is almost a completely different person that when I first met him. We also were able to see our investigators Sabas, who is from Mexico, and we brought a member that speaks Spanish and we taught him about the Book of Mormon. He does not speak very good English but he told our member that he does not understand everything that we say but that he does feel good. We had a very good lesson and our member was able to talk to him a lot about the Book of Mormon and what it was about. He was very excited to read it but he is going back to Mexico for a month and will not be back until January 15th so hopefully Elder Harris will be able to reconnect with him when he gets back.

   Also we got transfer calls on Saturday and I am getting transferred to Abbotsford 2nd ward or I guess I should say I am getting transferred back to the Abbotsford 2nd ward because they have 2 sets of Elders in that ward now. So, I served in Clearbrook and now I am going to the other set of Elders, but they both cover the same area and the same ward so it should be pretty awesome because that ward is really cool and I really like it there.

  This week our ward also had a Christmas activity called A Night in Bethlehem and it was so cool! They decorated the gym to look like Bethlehem with little tents with shops and activities and they had a play of the nativity and it was awesome. It was way better than the standard dinner and it was really centered on Christ and what Christmas is Really about!


Well I have to go Love ya Bye

Love Elder Slack

Monday, November 30, 2015

I know that I am just a 19 year old punk who probably does not know what he is talking about most of the time but this is something that I do know that this message that we carry as members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is true and is meant for everyone!

This Week has been really cold and when I say cold I mean like -2 Celsius which is a lot colder when you are walking around in it all day. It has not rained all week and it has been very sunny too but it has been very cold and we have had some bad luck in the cold, like on Saturday we did not drive our car so we took the bus to our dinner appointment in Cloverdale which is like 20 blocks from where we live and when left our appointment we ran to the bus stop because we thought we might miss it but we got there and we saw the Bus, but the bus just drove right past us and did not even stop so we had to wait for 30 minutes for the next one and so we went and knocked on doors and when we were heading back we decided to take a way we thought would be faster but it ended up not going anywhere so we were running back the way we came and we were 50 feet away when the bus drove by us so we had to walk home and it took like an hour so it was a pretty interesting night but we ended up getting back in time for an appointment we had at 8 with a less active. So there is the crazy story for the week.
  
  We have seen a lot of cool experiences lately like we were dropping by someone and decide to knock on a door and this really old man answered and let us in and we found out that he fought in World War 2 and was one of the first on the ground right after D Day and that he had just received a  metal of honor from the French government. We also knocked on a less active's door and his room mate answered and let us in and told us that the member had passed away a few days ago and then we found out that the guy we were talking to was also a less active member so we have been teaching him. 

  We have also been teaching Barry and he has been doing really good but he is just struggling with quitting smoking but he has been reading and has been consistantly coming to church so he has been doing good. Him and his wife are planning on moving in January so they probably will not be in our ward for much longer and will probably will get baptized in the ward they move into. 

 Not too much else has happened this week but I have been studying in Mosiah and about Abinadi. I don't know if you remember but last year when I was first out I had just learned about Abinadi and it blew my mind! and its doing it again. I love the Book of Mormon. When I was home I thought it was boring and I got nothing out if it but on my mission I think that has been what's changed me the most and what I have seen change others the most. The Book of Mormon is more than just another book or something that we have added to the Bible. It is revelation that our loving Father in Heaven has saved for us in this time so that we may know where to look for a remission of our sins, so that we can know that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith is a prophet that was called by God that that there is still a prophet on the Earth today and that God still speaks to his Children because he loves us so much. This Gospel is a gospel of Love and it was given to us because our Father in Heaven loves us and cares what happens to us and where we go. I am so grateful for this gospel and for what it has brought me. I don't want to sound cheesy but it is something that has changed me and it has changed many others! I know that I am just a 19 year old punk who probably does not know what he is talking about most of the time but this is something that I do know that this message that we carry as members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is true and is meant for everyone! 

Love Elder Slack

Sunday, November 29, 2015

{Nov 23, 2015} We have been doing a lot of knocking on doors and talking to people on the streets

So this week has been like the last 4 weeks pretty crazy and never what we plan or expect. We have been able to see a few people but one of our investigators Sheila formered her self because her son is on the run from the cops and she has a lot of family troubles right now so she decided to take a break for now so we have been doing a lot of knocking on doors and talking to people on the streets. 
  Yesterday we found some unique service. We where driving down a street when the car in front of us at a light put its hazards on and some one got out waving us by so we went by and pulled over and came back to help push this car so we pushed it through a red light, luckily no one hit us or it would have been a really bad day, and we had to push it up a hill to get to a side street and then run back to our car and go back to jump it. Needless to say it was a lot of work and dress pants and shoes are not ment for that but luckily we where able to help them out and they where really grateful for it. You know  Mosiah 2:17 must be true because when ever we get to help some out I feel really good and we get to help some of Gods children and maybe hopefully get to soften their hearts. This transfer has been really crazy and kind of hard but it has taught me a lot and has helped me grow as a person. I am so grateful for this experince that Ihave been able to have here in the great white north.Well I dont have too much time right now so I have to go
 
Love Elder Slack

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

The Biggest Convert on Your Mission is Yourself

Well this week has been really crazy! We have still have been doing a lot of finding recently. One of the Sister missionaries in our ward had to go home because she was really sick and so the other Sister is with some sisters in another ward in Langley but they are covering both areas right now so they asked us if we could start seeing one of their investigators named Barry and he is really cool! He is preparing to be baptized on December 6th and when we were talking to him he told us how much he loved coming to church and the people there and how that was one of the things that he looked forward to the most during the week! It was really to be able to see him and to see how much it has changed his life.
  Before I came up here to BC I did not know how much the Gospel could change peoples lives or how a part of my life it was until I came here and started teaching people who did not have it in their life and seeing it become apart of their life and how much it changed them. I am really grateful for this Gospel and that I was able to come on a mission to really learn what this Gospel is about and how important it is. A great example is I did not know that the spirit could help you in school or that the Atonement not only helps us be forgiven for sins but that it is there to help us in hard times that are not caused by sin or to help us with things that we think are hard like talking to random people. They say that the biggest convert on your mission is your self and thats true. I have been able to learn so much and I have been able to grow my testimony. 
 
 Well I have to go, 
Love Elder Slack

Sunday, November 15, 2015

{11/11/15} The Spirit is What Testifies of Truth

This week has been a ton better than the last! We were able to teach a lot more this week. We found a lot more people to teach this week and were able to contact some people that used to be taught by missionaries in the past.
  We actually went by a guy named Nick and the Elders in the past because he was really hard to contact but we went by and caught him home. We went in and started to talk to him and he told us how crazy his life has been and he actually asked us if we think going to church and reading the scriptures could help change his life for the better and we where shocked because no one ever asks us thoses types of questions and so we jumped on it and taught about how those things are ment to bring joy to our lives and how following the example of Jesus Christ and keeping his commandments helps us find the most joy in this life. We taught him the Restoration and about baptism and he told us how he feels like he needs to be baptized so we set a date for him to be baptized on December 13th. It was so cool to see how ready to hear the message we share and how he has been prepared to accept it now. 
  We also found 3 new investigators that are all from Central America. This week I really wished that I had taken that spanish class in high school more seriously because they all spoke english but not that great. One of the people we taught is Sabas, and he is from Mexico and he is up here for work. He comes up here every year for 6 months to work on a farm and we went out to where he lives and he lives in what looks like a group home but its just for all the workers on the farm and so we taught him the restoration and he was really attentive and I dont think he understood everything but he told us that next year when he comes back to BC he wants to come to our church and he wanted a book of mormon so he asked if we had one in spanish and so we are going to take one to him before he leaves back to mexico. We will probably not see him get baptized but the spirit in that lesson was really strong and he seemed really intersted like the he felt the spirit in the lesson and it was so cool. If only we spoke spanish. At least the spirit is universal!
  This week I have learned a lot about how important is to have the spirit in lessons and to always feel the spirit in our lives because it is how we stay strong in the gospel because the spirit is what testifies of truth and it is how we can and always will know that this Gospel is true and that this is the Church of Jesus Christ on the Earth today.
Love Elder Slack

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Mastering the Public Transit System

     Well this week has been a mess! Pretty much all of the people that we are teaching went MIA and we were not able to contact any of them. So, we have been doing a lot of finding to get new people to teach. We spent sometime this week calling through people that previous missionaries  had already talked to and the people gave their number. So we have been calling through  them and have been able to set up quite a few appointments so hopefully this week goes better. 
      Something that happened this last week that I didn't get to tell you was, to start off we are not allowed to drive our car on Saturday so on Saturday the 24th we decided to take a bus up to the church to go to the trunk or treat that they were having and it was quite an experience because I have never really taken public transit and Elder Harris is from Vernal Utah and started his mission in a little town called Smithers so neither of us knew how to use a bus. So we got on after finding the right bus and we were heading up to the church but we didnt know that you need to pull a cord to tell the driver that you want to get off at the next stop so we were waiting for our stop and when we were about to get there the bus just drove by and we ended up getting off at a stop 8 blocks away from the church and had to walk all the way there in the dark on a road that had no side walks; so needless to say that was an experience. But we redeemed ourselves this week when we successfully used the transit system to get to our dinner appointment this last Saturday. So we are pretty much experts at it now. 
       Not too much has happened this week because we have been doing a lot of finding. Oh, but one very unique experience we had on Friday was that we were teaching one of our investigators who lives in an assisted living home because he is paralyzed on his left side. So we where teaching him in a little common area when all the sudden some JW's come and start talking to us and one of them was an old lady and she called us the "devils that call ourselves saints". Elder Harris and I we so dumb founded that we did not know what to do so we said a prayer with him and left because they totally just killed the spirit that was in that lesson. It was crazy. I have never had that happen to me before.
       Anyways I have to go and I am going to say sorry right now because this computer does not have spell check so I don't know how many things I spelled wrong.
 
Love Elder Slack

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Another great companion in Brookswood

So, this week has been really crazy and I do not have a lot of time but I got a new companion Elder Harris and he's like 6 foot 5 so I am pretty short compared to him. Brookswood has been really good. We have a few new people to teach this week and we were able to see both of them this week. Their names are Mike and Ray. I'll tell you more about them next week but today has been really crazy and our email time is getting cut short because the library is really busy.
 
The Brookswood Ward has been really awesome! I am really glad that I got to stay here because the ward here is so supportive of us here. Well I am out of time. sorry for the lame email.

Love Elder Slack

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Another crazy week in Brookswood

Well we have had another Crazy Week! After Ken got Baptized our teaching pool went down after we reflected some people and some people said they did not want to meet anymore. So we did a ton of finding this week and we actually got 2 new really cool people to teach. One of them was a referral from a member and his name is Ray. He is an ex Jehovah witness and we are not sure why he is not a JW anymore but what really matters is that he wants to learn more about the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints so that is really awesome and he really wants to read the Book of Mormon and he actually has some roommates who are interested in Mormons too and would like to learn more so it looks like the spirit is a real thing and that it does really work on people and the God does really prepare his children, who would've guessed?!
  
  The other new person that we are teaching is Mike. He was given our number by some previous missionaries in Brookswood and he gave us a call a few weeks ago and we finally got to meet him last night and it was so cool. We honestly thought he was not going to be that interested and be one of those people that likes to argue and we were dead wrong. It was such a great lesson and he told us how a lot of things have gone bad in his life recently and how he is really trying to put his life back together and really wants to grow closer to God and it was a super good lesson and we talked a lot about the things that Christ has done for us and how the Gospel and the message we share is meant to bring joy to our lives and we invited him to be baptized and he accepted it!! It was so awesome and the spirit was so strong!

  So this week has been a little harder because we have not been able to do as much teaching, but meeting these two new friends it was all worth it and we are so glad the God has prepared people to accept the message of the restoration and to feel the Joy and happiness that comes from this gospel.

  In knowing that, this should not be a side note but Ken was confirmed yesterday and it was great. After the confirmation he had a huge smile on his face and was just really happy! It was great and Ken is even cooler because he loves baseball and he always tells me what is going on with the post season so I guess we are pretty good friends. 

  Oh and we got transfer calls and I am staying in Brookswood and Elder Mattingley is going to Powell River and my new Companion is Elder Harris and he has been out for 3 months. Well I gotta go so see ya!

Elder Slack

{10/13/15} 2 American missionaries and a Brazilian family celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving in Canada

Well this week was pretty good I guess not much happened except that Ken Got Baptized!! It was so cool and kind of funny because the font would only fill up to knee height so it was pretty interesting because he pretty much had to lay down and then get back up but hey it works. 



  So that was probably the best thing that happened this week and we also have been teaching a kid of a recent convert family that the parents were baptized in March and their son just turned 13 a month ago and they wanted us to teach him before he was baptized and help him understand the importance of baptism and he is going to be baptized next week so that is pretty cool.

  Also yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving and it was my first because last year I was in the MTC for Thanksgiving. We went to a Brazilian families house for Thanksgiving which is kind of funny because it was 2 American missionaries and a Brazilian family celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving in Canada. 

Also, Next week is transfers and we are pretty sure that one of us will be moving but we don't know who so if I keep my streak going of staying in areas for 2 transfers it will be me but Elder Mattingley has been here for 3 so we don't know. I don't know what else to write because I left my planner at our dinner appointment last night so I can't remember what we did. I guess that's what happens when you get old right?

  Well I'm gonna go
   Love Elder slack

Monday, October 5, 2015

None of the work for salvation we do is about us...it's about helping others.

  Well this week has been a bit of a gong show. It has been really crazy because it has been kind of difficult to meet with some of our investigators; like Sheila and Leaf and Eric but we were able to see Sheila and Eric yesterday when we dropped by and we had a really good lesson with Sheila and figured out some of her concerns about being baptized and are really helping her through them so it was really good to see her again.

    The best thing that has been happening this week is probably that Ken is really progressing and is getting baptized this Sunday!! It has been so cool to see how much he has progressed in the last month since we found him. He came to Conference and really liked it! He is doing so good and really wants to be baptized and really wants to get the Holy Ghost so he can have it to help him in his life. Elder Mattingley and I are just really excited for him!!

  One thing we also figured out is that this transfer is going to be a shorter transfer than normal and will only be 5 weeks so on the 21st will be transfer day so we are not sure who will be leaving but it could be either one of us. Just a heads up. 

Well, I do not have a lot of time to talk about conference because the computer i am using only has 6 minutes on it before it shuts down so I am not sure what my favorite talk was but I really liked Elder Dale G Renlund's testimony and how he said something to the effect that this work is not about me it's about the Lord and Heavenly Fathers children. That really hit me because it's true. None of the work for salvation we do is about us; it's about helping others. That is what Christ did; none of the things he did were ever about him, the healings, the atonement, none of it; it was all for others.

well I have to go

Love Elder Slack

Thursday, October 1, 2015

The spirit makes missionary work so much easier

This week has not really gone like we planned but it has been great! I want to start off with something that happened a few weeks ago when we had to go to the mission office. So on our way back we went to one of the only Krispy Kreme's in Canada and the only one in BC! It was so awesome and it was an amazing experience! 


  This week we were able to see Leaf and we took the Bishop to one of our lessons and it was awesome! We taught him about the restoration and he seems to really be soaking it up and he has been reading the Book of Mormon regularly so its only a matter of time that the spirit gets him and converts him. I love the spirit. It makes missionary work so much easier because it is the one that converts them. He was going to come to church yesterday but he got stuck in traffic and was going to be like 25 minutes late and he told us that he got frustrated and went home. So sometimes you just want to drop kick satan because he just pulls the lowest things to stop people.
  
   Ken is doing awesome! He came to church again and really enjoyed it and we moved his baptism to October 11th because of Conference but he has really been progressing and it looks like he is going to make his date. We had a really good lesson with him and we taught him the word of wisdom and found out that he has already cut out alcohol and coffee over the last year! It was really cool to see how he had been prepared by the Lord.
  
  I am almost out of time but I need to tell you one more thing. So we went to McDonalds on Thursday and Elder ordered a McDeca which has 10 patties on a McDouble. I know, I didn't think it was possible but it is and its not a rumor or a legend but it's reality!!



 Well, I have to go.

Love, Elder Slack

Thursday, September 24, 2015

He seems a lot happier and it seems like he is feeling a lot more joy!

So this week has been crazy! Transfers were this week and neither of us got moved but we did have to take our car to the mission office so that we could swap our car with some Elders in Kelowna because we had a Subaru and they had a Cruze but in Kelowna it snows and it doesn't in Langley so they took the all wheel drive car to where it snows and the front wheel drive car where it doesn't snow. So we drove to Richmond on Wednesday and were there for 2 hours waiting for the car to get there and for it to get switched so they know were it is and everything so needless to say it was kind of a mess but it got done.

  So about a week and a half ago we went to the Canada US Border and it was pretty cool; no wall yet but that should be up right after Trump gets in office but for now it's just a ditch, trees and a piller because I guess it is not a big problem. 

We saw In-N-Out up in Canada but it was a 2 1/2 hour wait to get it so we didn't....it was really sad ;)
   Ken is Also is doing awesome! He came to church yesterday and loved it! He was able to meet a lot of members and had a really good time! He has changed so much since we first met him. He seems a lot happier and it seems like he is feeling a lot more joy! He is still on track to be baptized on October 4th still! He is so prepared and very willing to learn more. Sheila has also been doing well. We were able to give her a blessing yesterday because she has been sick for a week and it was really good because she said she felt a lot better. She is progressing really well and just needs to tell her family that she is getting baptized and then she will be baptized!! Another one of our investiagtors is Leaf and we have had a few really good lessons about the spirit and found out when he has felt it which was really good because he says he has never felt it but he has!


We found a free book thing on the side of the street so we put in a Book of Mormon and it was taken a few days later! So thats pretty cool.

Well I have to go love ya Bye!

Love Elder SLack

Monday, September 14, 2015

"Even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you" -Alma 32

     Well, this week has been crazy busy! We have been teaching a lot more the last couple of weeks, which is awesome because I like teaching a lot more than anything else. It has been a really good week because we have been able to help a lot of our investigators progress and slowly change their lives; so it has been really awesome!
      One thing that I have learned on my mission that really came to me this morning is how little I knew when I came out and how I had a pretty good testimony of a few things but just never really gained a strong testimony of a lot of things or studied the Gospel that much. Because of that I have really seen how real and true Alma 32:27-28 are. Just having that desire to believe, to have a testimony will grow and has help to gain of a lot of things and I still have a long way to go but learning the gospel and teaching the gospel has helped me a lot. I am so glad that I came on a mission and that I did not go home like I thought about on my first day in the field because I thought it was hard, which, it's hard but most things that are right are not easy. I have learned so much, especially about doubting doubts before doubting faith. I have ran into and talked to a lot of people who have told me that the church is a lie and false and that Joseph Smith is a liar and the Book of Mormon was written by the devil and people have even showed me anti to try to prove to me that the church is false. I am sure that most members have gone through this a few times, I have learned that I do not know everything but neither do the people that tell us these things. I only know of one person that does and that is our Father in Heaven and conveniently we can always ask him questions and he will help us answer them. Isn't that pretty sweet! What is even cooler is that he doesn't answer just some people but everyone! He loves us all and desperately wants to hear from us all no matter what we feel like or what we have done. His love is unconditional, we are never unworthy to pray or to receive answers.
       Enough about me ranting. We were able to see one of our newer investigators, Ken, and talked to him a lot about baptism and priesthood Authority and he accepted an invitation to be baptized on October 4th! He is very cool and really wants to learn and find out for him self so hopefully we can continue to help him to be ready for that day. We were also able to see Sheila and go help her at her farm which was pretty sweet and she gave us a bunch of food! Which was awesome! She is so close to getting baptized too and she should be baptized within this transfer. Oh, I forgot to tell you I am staying in Brookswood with Elder Mattingley until the end of October at least.
      Well, I have to go. We got our email time cut a half an hour because the library is really busy so I'll talk to you next week and send you some pics of the border...Yeah the US and Canada border because our area goes all way to the border and we went to a member's house who live like a mile from the border so we went and took pictures and saw freedom!

Love Elder Slack

Thursday, September 10, 2015

We have seen so much success this week

Well This week has been awesome! We have seen so much success this week because Elder Mattingley & I have been trying to improve some things that we are not that good at like using our phone to call people and set up lessons with our investigators and it has worked really well. We have been able set up a lot more lessons this week and have been able to make some really good progress with some of our investigators. 
 
  We were able to see Sheila a few times this week and had some really good lessons with her about the Plan of Savation and about the importance of Church. She came to church this week!! Our lesson that we taught about the Plan of Salvation was awesome! She had her sister and it was very good. She is very close to being baptized because she has learned everything already but we are just trying to help her feel the spirit and regularly read the book of Mormon. 
 
 We also found a new investigator named Ken and he is really cool. He has had a lot of stuggles in his life but he told us how he has met missionaries before and gave them his info but they never showed up again. So it was really cool to see how prepared he is and how he just absorbs info. It was also really cool because one of the things that he really likes was that we can trace our authority back to Christ.
 
 Sorry I don't have a lot of time but this week has been really good.
 
Love Elder Slack

Monday, September 7, 2015

Who would have thought that you could get so much out of a book.

This few weeks has been crazy! We finally got our bed bug problem fixed for good on Friday and we got new mattresses which was awesome because my last one was pretty much a board or that's what it felt like and Elder Mattingley's box spring was broken so his bed looked like a U, well kind of.





  Then there was a huge wind storm in the Lower Mainland and it knock out most of the power here in Langley except for downtown which is luckily where we live so we had power but most of our ward did not so it was pretty crazy! There was a ton of trees that fell down on to the roads and a huge tree fell pretty close to the church. So we spent sometime raking up leaves and helping people fix up the mess. Because of the power outage we had Sacrament in the dark, skipped Sunday school and combined Priesthood and Relief society outside. It was pretty cool and a lot of fun.



 
  Last week Elder Johnson of the first Qumran of the seventy come and talked to all the ward councils and the missionaries about how to help the members remember that we are all full time missionaries. When we are Baptized we are commanded to preach the Gospel and whether we where a black name tag or not. The only difference between set apart missionaries and members is how we do the work. set apart missionaries go out and knock on doors and talk to people on the street and go to peoples homes to teach them but members can do it in a very similar way by talking to people and their friends. Not just about the gospel but about them. Elder Johnson talked about how if we just go and talk to people and to our friends and really get to know them and care about them we shouldn't worry about sharing the gospel or how we will tie the gospel into the conversation because it will just happen. It was a great meeting and it is really how us as missionaries with name tags are trying to do it as well by talking to people and getting to know them and to just wait for a time when the Lord will fill our mouths with what he wants us to say.

 This week was a little harder because lots of our investigators have been out of town or busy with things and we have not been able to see them but we were able to see Leaf this week and we had 2 really good lessons with him and we are trying to help him recognize the spirit and to help him receive and recognize the answers that God is giving him. He is very cool and is really wanting to know what God wants him to do. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying so we are really excited to see how he progresses and recognizes his answer. If there has been one thing I have learned it is that the Book of Mormon can change lives. I have seen it change my own life and the lives of others. That is the other thing, I finally finished the Book of Mormon! for the second time on my mission and it was awesome and I feel like every time I read it i get just as much out of it as I did the last time. The Book of Mormon is awesome and I never thought I would ever love it or enjoy reading it like I do now. Who would have thought that you could get so much out of a book? It's almost like it was inspired revelation from God sent here for us in this day!

Love Elder Slack

One of our investigators Sheila has a farm and we went out and picked some corn! And she let us keep it!