"Miracles do not produce Faith, Strong Faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ"

     Well this week has been really uneventful mostly because we had to stay inside from Monday to Thursday because Elder Boehmer was sick and he got me sick to so we were not able to go out and work so it was really boring but we did get our apartment really clean and were able to contact a lot of former investigators and set up lessons with them so it was not a complete waste but we didn't get much done while we were in the apartment for most of the week. 

      On Friday we finally got out of our apartment and did something. We actually helped one of our members build a deck for a less active member so that was pretty awesome and it was a lot of fun. It was also really good to get out of the apartment and do something and then we went to Dairy Queen for dinner because we were tired of our apartment and Elder Boehmer bought an ice cream cake for no reason except he wanted one so that was really random and kind of funny. 

Then on Saturday we planned for our next week with our Zone Leaders and it was really good. Our planners are so full with what we are going to do this week and I am really excited to get out and have a full week again.

      While I was studying I was reading lesson 3 and reading about Faith so I went to the Bible Dictionary and read the definition on faith. One of the things that really stuck out to me was one line "Miracles do not produce Faith, Strong Faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ". This really stuck out to me because I have always wondered why people like Lamen and Lemual never became fully converted even though they had seen countless miracles. It is because seeing miracles will not build your faith only obedience to the things that we have been commanded to do will help us build our faith but the Bible Dictionary also said "True Faith brings Miracles,visions, dreams, healings, and all other gifts from God". It doesn't matter if we ever see a vision or see an angel because those things will not help us become converted members of the Gospel. Well, not much else has happend and we have to go.

Love Elder Slack

Another awesome day in paradise

Well this week has been weird. Not like any other week I have had on my mission. Mostly because we had to stay in all day Saturday and only go to Sacrament on Sunday and then go home all day because Elder Boehmer was and still is really sick and wasn't allowed to be in anyone's house so the last few days has been really boring. 

         One thing that did happen that was awesome is that we got a call from one of our investigators, named Garry. He called us and told us that he wanted us to come over because he had just read a chapter from the Book of Mormon that we left him to read the last time we met with him. He told us how it reminded him of the Lords prayer and how reading 2 Nephi 31 made him feel good and really calmed him down from the stress he had been feeling and so we were talking to him and Elder Boehmer asked him if he wanted to become a member of our church and he told us that is something he would like to do in the future but he has a smoking problem so he didn't want to set a date to be baptized yet but as we continued to talk to him and eventually invited him to be baptized and also helped him set a goal to quit smoking he agreed and it was so awesome how the spirit worked within him and helped him see that he needed to be baptized so it was really cool and Awesome to see because Garry has been taught since the end of December and he has came to church like 10 times so it was really good to help him make the jump and the goal to be baptized.

         Another really crazy thing that happened on Wednesday while we were on exchanges and I was with Elder Winkler, who was Elder Kelly's trainer. We were out knocking on some D's and he recognized a house that he and Elder Kelly knocked on Elder Kelly's first day in the mission and they found a guy who was interested but the Elders in Clearbrook never were able to contact him so we went and knocked on his door and were able to teach him and his daughter. It was really awesome because I was completely guided by the spirit that we go knock on the street we were on even though we didn't know it at the time. 

 Sorry this Email is kind of short but almost half of our week was cut short because we had to stay in the apartment for a few days.

 Love Elder Slack

(awesome count: 4)

#realBCMissionaries

This Week has been crazy. We have done a ton of stuff except for Tuesday because it seemed like on Tuesday nothing went right. We had seven lessons planned and none of them worked out so Tuesday seemed to be a trial of our faith because it was rough. Then on Wednesday it got better and things started to work out. The best day of the week by far was Saturday. 

 On Saturday we had something called Social Media Splits day where all day we had a member with us taking pictures of us and posting them with the hash tag #realBCmissionaries. You have no idea how hard if was for me to do that. 

Social Media Saturday - ironically enough the member that was taking pictures of them is the nephew of the Bishop he served under in the Kamloops 2nd Ward (his wife sent me this picture)

Anyway we had a really good service project in the morning where we dug a ditch and put down some pipe and we got to feed some chickens and hold a baby goat and pet some other chickens and pet a turkey so you could say it was a pretty successful day but then it got even better because we pretty much had appointments all day and when one fell through our back up worked out. It was great! The coolest thing was we taught a family that me and Elder Moran found a few weeks ago while we were waiting for our new companions. So we went back and talked to them and taught them about the restoration and answered a lot of the questions they had about Mormons. What’s even cooler is they have five kids and they are Jamaican! Isn't that Sweet! Like a Jamaican family in BC. So it was a really great day and the member we took to that appointment really connected with them well so it was an amazing lesson. 

 This transfer has been really great and Elder Boehmer and I have been doing awesome even though he is Canadian and I’m American we still get along.

Will wearing Elder Boehmer's glasses

Care package from Elder Boehmer's grandma -- yeah, they're not starving ;)

 Sorry I didn’t manage my time very well to day so I am going to have to cut it short so sorry!

Love Elder Slack

Crazy but awesome!

This week has been crazy and really awesome! So we got transfer calls last Sunday and got told that Elder Johnson was going to Burns Lake , which is way up North and that I was staying in Clearbrook and Elder Boehmer was going to be my new companion. 

 On Wednesday the Zone Leaders came and picked up Elder Johnson to take him to the Vancouver airport to fly up and they dropped off Elder Moran, who was also waiting for his companion to come in. So, we had a pretty normal day but we did meet a guy named Greg who is from Haiti and we taught him the restoration and he was really interested and had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon and where it came from. So we had a really good lesson with him. Then later that night we went and meet up with the Zone Leaders who had Elder Moran's new companion who is Elder Jang! (refer back to the old MTC photos)  Elder Jang came out with me and he is really awesome. So it was really cool to see him again! Then we went to Langley to pick up Elder Boehmer at the greyhound station. Elder Boehmer is awesome! He's from Calgary and came out a transfer after me so he has been out 4 1/2 months and the craziest thing is that we have the exact same Birthday!! 

  The coolest thing that happened this week was on Saturday night after the Priesthood session we where on exchanges with the Zone leaders and I was with Elder Mahabeer at some lessons and Elder Boehmer and Elder Camp went store contacting at the mall next to our house and they met a lady named Katrina and invited her to conference and she came to the afternoon session and she said she really enjoyed it especially all the talks about families. She said she was really interested in learning more and really likes it so far. So that was a miracle! She is super solid and is very interested and has a desire to learn.

 Conference was amazing also but really different as a missionary especially with all the talks about families and getting married which were really good but slightly awkward because I am a missionary but I think my favorite talks were Elder Hollands and Elder Nielsons talk. Elder Nelson actually came and spoke when I was in the MTC. I really liked his talk about how we need to sometimes just wait and love people back into the gospel. I feel this spoke to me a lot more as a missionary than it would have before I was a missionary because I actaully know what that is like and how sometimes it is really hard to just wait for people. Sometimes I have felt like dragging people to church and trying to force them to feel the spirit but that is impossible and is taking away one of the greatest gifts God has given us, Agency.

  Conference was so awesome! Just remember what Elder Nielson said " What will you do with what you have learned over the past 2 days?"

Love, Elder Slack

Cousins by birth...friends by choice :)

So proud of this young man's decision to serve a mission. This is Will's cousin Whitley. They are only 8

months apart in age and were quite the little buddies growing up. Even when our families moved apart every time they got together it was as if they'd spent no time apart. I have loved watching them grow up together. I wasn't sure if Whitley was going to go on a mission. For a long time he talked about joining the Army just like his older brother and grandpa before him. After returning back to Vernal after coming down to Will's farewell I got a text from Whit saying he couldn't find Will's phone number. After giving it to him he shared with me why he needed it. He said that Will had set a great example for him and after hearing him speak that morning he knew what he needed to do...serve a mission. He was going to contact his Bishop that next Sunday and start getting ready. He would've been a great soldier but I'm so glad he decided to wait on that for a short while to sacrifice his time and serve a mission. My heart is so full right now as I watch this video over and over again crying each time. Oklahoma is a very lucky and blessed place to have the future Elder Peterson amongst them. Can't wait to hear his sweet stories as well. Congratulations Whitley!!

Oklahoma baby!

Posted by Kim Patterson Anderton on Friday, April 3, 2015