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

Thursday, May 28, 2015

There are souls out there searching for the gospel...we need to be ready to share it

     Well this week has been really interesting but really just a typical week in Surrey. On Monday we ended p-day early because we couldn't email because it was Victoria Day and everything was closed so we went to a barbecue that a member was having so we went to eat some food and see Elder Bonfield's recent convert Roko, who is really cool and is Fijian and is crazy smart and knows a ton about the gospel even though he has only been a member for 3 months. So, that was really cool and the member who was having the barbecue is also Fijian and Fijians love to eat and so we got stuffed so that was awesome until we realized that we had to go out and work for another 2 hours. 
      One of the coolest things that happened was while I was on exchanges with Elder Green, our zone leader, we were at a bus loop and I started to talk to a lady named Preety and she was really interested in what we believed so I asked her when we could meet again to share more of our message and she said, "right now", so we taught her the restoration at the bus loop and she agreed with everything and believed that there could be a prophet on the earth today, which is awesome because usually people get hung up on that. That just showed me that there are people being prepared by the Lord and that we just need to talk to them. Because they are just waiting for the gospel and are seeking it. 
      That is one of the biggest things that has surprised me since I have been on a mission is how many people are looking for the gospel intentionally or unintentionally. I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to serve the Lord for the past 7 months, which doesn't feel like 7 months at all, and to learn and grow in the gospel and to go through all the trials and challenges that I have faced on my mission and throughout my life because they are what have helped me know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that The Atonement is real and so is the Plan of Happiness. The way to feel eternal lasting joy is through Jesus Christ. I have come to really love sharing the Gospel with others because I know that it is true and is what everyone needs in their life. Even though they may not think that.

 Love, Elder Slack

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Farewells...Reunions and new adventures ahead

      Well this week has been crazy because of the transfer this week. Mostly because we where scrambling around on Tuesday trying to pack and visit members and investigators before I left Clearbrook and then we had to travel to the Mission Office to meet our new companions and we didn't have a map to the mission office and Elder Boehmer and I had only been there once so we were using our memory and the spirit to get there on time and we only got lost 3 times but two of them were in Vancouver so that was an experience and not a very fun one but we finally made it there a half hour late but we did make it. I finally got to see Elder Kelly again after 4 months so that was pretty sweet and really fun. I finally got to meet my new companion Elder Bonfield who is from Ontario Canada so I still have a Canadian companion so I am still the only American when we go anywhere.
      Anyways, Surrey is very different from my last two areas in that it is a lot bigger than Clearbrook and Kamloops and it’s more of a city with a down town so we do a lot more street contacting especially at a place called Surrey Central where there are thousands of people walking through because there is a mall, university, bus loop and a sky train station so there is a lot of people there and it was really overwhelming the first day we went there but it got better the longer we stayed there. 
     On Friday we went on an exchange with the Assistants, Elder Englestead and Elder Cottingham. I went with Elder Cottingham and we went to Surrey central for 4 hours just talking to people and it was crazy and very busy. We met a ton of crazy people and a few Jehovah Witnesses, which are always fun to talk to. 
     Sorry I have to go but our time is cut short because we are emailing on Tuesday so I have to go. 


Love Elder Slack

                                                  Saying goodbye
Elder Boehmer, Will & the Bumbys 
Will and the Noftles 
Will and the Vidals

Will and Brother Newman

Will & Garry (baptism date set for next month)

Thursday, May 14, 2015

I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord, I'll be what you want me to be...

Well this week has been really good and very crazy. If you didn't know I am being transferred to the first ward in Surrey, which is about 20 minutes from Abbotsford, and my new Companion is Elder Bonfield. I don't know too much about him but that he has been out for almost a year and a half. So, I will be leaving Clearbrook on Wednesday.
       I am really sad to leave Clearbrook because the members here are awesome and we have some really great investigators here that have been prepared by the Lord! Garry, who we have been meeting with a lot lately, has really progressed and has also gone through a lot of struggles too. He recently broke up with his girlfriend and she is moving out soon and he has almost completely quit smoking! So, he is very close to being ready and he really wants to. He talks about it all the time and loves come to church. He is very awesome! Katrina is someone we found at the beginning of the transfer and has been coming to church and has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy! She is amazing! She has been completely prepared. She just needs to be taught. Clearbrook is amazing and I’m sad to go but I know that the Lords needs me to be in Surrey and that is where I will be the most effective and will help him hasten his work the most. So I am really excited! Oh, and Elder Boehmer's new companion is going to be Elder Kelly!! He was my trainer so that's stinkin’ awesome! I actually got to talk to Elder Kelly last night and it was really cool.
       Another really cool thing that happened this week was Elder Crapo (Crape-o) got to go on exchanges this week, so now I have gone on exchanges with two of the Elders in my MTC district.
We went to a dinner appointment and they were telling Elder Crapo about how the socialist group took the majority in Alberta and Elder Crapo said he was happy and then this member who was obviously conservative told him why it was bad. So, that was pretty funny and a very interesting dinner appointment.  
       Well, not much else happened this week except that I got to Skype home which was awesome even though my sister is growing up and is scaring me, but that’s ok because we all have our agency.

Anyways I gotta go and do some packing! 


Love Elder Slack

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

God works in mysterious ways

     Well this week has been really awesome!! Some really crazy things have happened this week like on Thursday night we just got done with our correlation meeting at the church and when we are just about to leave these 4 East Indian foreign exchange university students walk in and ask if they can have a church tour, so we said of course and we showed them around and gave them our number and they said they would call us back. Then on Friday we were out and we dropped by a person who had told previous missionaries that they could come back and so we went and knocked on the house and the lady that answered said that the person we were looking for moved but then told us we could come back because she was interested in learning about our church because her biological family was Mormon, so we set up a time to come back later that day and had a really awesome lesson. So needless to say we saw some pretty awesome Miracles this week!
     One of the people that we have been working with is Garry and we have been seeing him a lot this transfer. We have really been trying to help him to progress and quit smoking because he has told us several times that he wants to get baptized but he can’t because he still smokes but over the last few weeks he has been really cutting back. So yesterday I fasted that he would be able to over come his smoking addiction and last night we went over to see him and he told us that he had tried smoking but only smoked half a cigarette because it was making him sick. You know what they say God works in mysteries ways. It was so awesome to see him and he is truly progressing and has a strong desire to get baptized. So we set a date for him to be baptized on June 6th and it really looks like he is going to make it.
     One of the other really solid people that we have been working with is Katrina. We met Katrina at the beginning of the transfer and invited her to General Conference and she came but right after that her mom passed away and she was really busy planning the funeral and had a lot on her plate but a few weeks ago she texted us out of the blue and asked when church was so we told her and she came last week! At church yesterday she told us how she found a Book of Mormon 30 day study challenge. So that is insane! She is so awesome and has been prepared by the Lord to hear the Gospel. 
      One of the things that I have really learned on my mission is that it’s not me and my companion that convert people, it’s not us that prepare people but it’s the Lord. Yes, we do teach people and we do help prepare people but it’s someone much bigger than us that brings people to the Gospel. I have loved my mission and have really learned a lot and am really excited to continue on and learn a lot more. 
      I am so grateful for this gospel and for what it has done for me. I am extremely grateful my Savior for giving me the opportunity to share his gospel with others and for giving me the opportunity to choose to live with God again. I know he lives and I know that he is always there for us no matter what we are going through. I know he loves all of us. 

Love Elder Slack