A mission is definitely not what I expected or anticipated but it has been exactly what I needed

This week was good. It has been a little hard because lots of our investigators stopped meeting with us but we have really been blessed with some new people to teach. We were able to find a family this week and they are really cool. Their names are Troy and Joslynn and they have four kids. They are a really cool family that we tracted into and they let us in and we talked to them for 30 minutes and went over what we do as missionaries and went over how that message that we share is meant to bless families and how important the family is and they told us how they used to go to church but they felt like God was being taken out of church and that people were not living what they were preaching and they told us that the church they used to go to did not feel right and that something was missing. We told them a lot about our church and how we feel the spirit there. It is a place that we go to worship and fellowship. They really liked it and told us that we could come back after spring break because they would be really busy. It was such a great experience! We talked to them about how that spirit that is missing in other churches is in our church and that we believe that the church that Jesus Christ established is the same church that we attend now and it has been restored to the earth. It was really great to meet them because we have been doing a lot of tracting and going by people that met missionaries before and we have not had too much success but we met this family who have really been prepared to hear the Restored  Gospel. They have been missing something and This Gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness. We have been able to set up some lessons with other people that we met and with some people that met missionaries before so the work has been a lot better here and it is going good. 

   A mission is definitely not what I expected or anticipated but it has been exactly what I needed and I am very grateful that I still have some time to learn some more and to continue to share this Gospel that has blessed my life so much. Crazy thing is I didn't understand, and I am not sure that I still do completely, how much it has impacted my life and blessed me until I came on my mission. I have seen how it has changed others lives as well and given them that hope that it has given me. I have come to learn how real the Gospel is and how much it does help us with and how much Christ helps me with everyday, even things that are not directly related to the Gospel or things I thought were not related to the Gospel. I have also learned that life is not meant to be easy and it will never be easy. Something that President Burt says a lot is that there is not much growth in a comfort zone and there is not much comfort in a growing zone, that is a butchered paraphrasing but basically it means that hard things help us grow and learn and mold us into who God needs us to be.

Love Elder Slack

I finally got to Kelowna and it has been great!

This week has been really crazy. To start off with transfers and on Monday Elder Hunter and I had to pack and clean the whole apartment because two new Elders were coming in that week and then we had to write what felt like a thousand notes so that they knew what was going on in the area with our investigators and all the info about the area so that they could pick up right where we left off. So Monday was really hectic, then we were told that we needed to stay with the Abby 1st Elders on Monday night so that Elder Hunter could leave with Elder Evans, who is in Abby 1st, early in the morning and catch their flights at the Airport in Vancouver and some Elders from Chiliwack were staying the night at the same place so needless to say we did not sleep very good that night. Then Elder Hunter had to leave at 5am so he got up at 4:15 and him and Elder Evans were not the quietest people so they woke everyone up but once they left it was all normal until 10 then Elder Sharp, one of the Elders in Chiliwack, and I had to drive to Vancouver airport to go pick up some other missionaries and we had no idea where we were going and we ended up at a private airport in Vancouver but eventually we found it and it turned out that the Elders flight was delayed for almost an hour so we were waiting there for a while then they finally got in and we had to drive them back to the Mission Office and we were supposed to stay there until some other missionaries came and picked us up to take us back to the Airport but while we were there President Burt showed up and told Elder Sharp that he should go get a hair cut so we had to go get Elder Sharp a haircut and then finally we got picked up at 3:30 and got to airport but I had to wait for 3 hours at the airport by myself until my flight at 6:30 and then my flight was delayed until 6:50 so I did not get to Kelowna until 8:15 so it was a pretty crazy day. 

  Then finally I got to Kelowna and it has been great! The weather here has been awesome. So hopefully I do not have to see much more rain for the rest of my mission. We had some really good lessons this week with some recent converts and some less actives that are coming back to church. We have also had a lot of investigators tell us that they do not want to meet with us anymore so it has been a really interesting week with a lot of trials and it has been kind of hard but I was studying this morning and I was going to look up something in the topical guide and I came across refine and refinement and so I read the scriptures and most of them were on how the Lord refines us for good and everything that he does is for our good. I came across the story of Alma the older and his people in Mosiah 24 and how they were persecuted and they were told if they prayed out loud they would be killed and so they prayed in their hearts and it talks about how the Lord did not take their trials away but that he strengthened them to make their burdens light so that they were able to bear the trials that they were given and eventually God did remove them from their trials. It taught me a lot about how a lot of times God does not take challenges away but he will make them manageable as long as we rely on him because if we are not obedient to him and his commandments then he can not help us to make our burdens light but as we live the gospel and do what we are supposed to all the trials with be for our good because just like Nephi says the Lord gives no commandment save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them and it is the same for our trials too. As we trust in God he will help us and support us in everything that we do.

Love Elder Slack

It was really cool because he answered my prayer from a long time ago

Well, this week has been really crazy! A lot because of transfers. Elder Hunter is getting transferred to Powell River and yep that's right, I am getting transferred too, to Kelowna 1st ward. They are going to bring in two new missionaries to replace us so we have had to write a ton of things down that the Elder staying usually knows and it has been really crazy and kind of stressful over the last day. We told the ward council that we were both leaving and they were so shocked that we were both leaving because they have had a ton of missionary changes in the last 6 months so it was a pretty sad day yesterday but everyone was joking that I will be back in a few months so I hope that comes true! So, we spent most of the day yesterday telling people that we were leaving so when the new missionaries come and try to go teach them they won't be confused when two new missionaries come by. I am really sad to have to say good bye to Abbotsford again but lots of the members were telling me that they would see me in a few months so maybe I'll come back before I go home. 

   

   Anyways besides transfers. We were able to stop by to see a former Investigator named Carlos and we set up a time to come by the next day and when we went by he told us he was still a little busy right then so we just talked to him for a minute at his door and told him about the restoration and how that is what we like to share with people and then he invited us in to tell him more and we were able to teach him about the restoration and while I was quoting the first vision he started to cry and after he told us how he felt something and how he wants to start to change his life and to follow Jesus Christ. So we set a baptismal Date with him for March 26th and we told him about the Book of Mormon and he told us how we wanted to buy it and we told him that we would give it to him for free and he told us how he really wanted to read it. It was amazing! It was one of the coolest lessons that I have ever had. It was so cool and we went and stopped by last night and talked to him again and he has been reading a little bit of the Book of Mormon and he said it has helped him especially to overcome some of the challenges he is having.

  This week has been really weird because I really felt like we were both going to leave but earlier this week I was looking at my planner I had right after I left Abby for the first time and I wrote down areas that I wanted to serve in and I wrote down Abbotsford 2nd and I remembered right after I left here the first time I prayed and asked if I could come back here before I went home. It was really crazy because I totally forgot about that and It was really cool because he answered my prayer from a long time ago and I am really glad he did because I have learned so much since I came back here. It has really helped me to grow and to change more into who I need to become. I know this sounds really cheesy but it has really helped me to come back here so I am not just saying this to look cute but this is real! Well, I have to go and pack and clean up our apartment and do some other "fun" stuff.

Love Elder Slack

It is a lot easier to do the hard things that are required of us from our Father in Heaven when we truly love the Lord and love the people that we are serving

This week has been really good! The weather is finally starting to get better, it has been raining less and not as hard so I have been enjoying walking around a lot more than the last couple of weeks. Our teaching pool has been shrinking a little bit just because people are not progressing right now and some of our investigators are out of town for a while and a bunch of other reasons so we have really been trying to focus on find new people to teach and to really share the Gospel with people because we love them and because it truly is something that we love and cherish and something that will help others in their lives. I have found that when I really talk to people and share this unique message that we have out of love and because I love the Lord and the Gospel and want others to have the Joy that I have had come from it that people. It is a lot easier to do the hard things that are required of us from our Father in Heaven when we truly love the Lord and love the people that we are serving. 

   We have had some really cool miracles that happened is that we got some really good referrals from our members! One of our members called us and asked if we had a dinner appointment and invited us over for dinner and one of their friends that just moved into their basement was talking to one of the people that she works with and she was telling him about the church and what she does there and he was asking her why she was so happy and she told him it was because of what she believed and he is really looking for something in his life so she told him about us and how we love to share a message of happiness and she asked if we could come over to tell him more about it and he said we could. So we went over there yesterday and told him about the Atonement and Repentance and how he can find that happiness in his life. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and he was very eager to read and to see if this is something that can help him in his life. It was so cool and he is someone who is definatly prepared by the Lord to hear the Gospel. His name is Dan.

  Then we got another awesome referral that we are going to see this week. The family that gave it to us, the Adams, told us how they met RJ and he actually came up to them and asked if they where religious because he noticed that they were different and he told them that he is looking for a church and can't seem to find the right one and he wants to learn more about what we believe. 

 It has been such a good week but transfers are next week and we get calls this Saturday so hopefully I can stay in Abby for another transfer. I guess I'll find out this week.

Love Elder Slack

And the miracles keep coming

 Sorry that I did not send an email last week. I wrote it but I actually never sent it so I am just going to write this one.

   So this week was great! We have seen a lot of success this week. We were finally able to see a part member family that we are working with, the Swensons, this week and had a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation and what was even more of a miracle was their son Calvin was very calm through the whole lesson and we were able to teach everything that we wanted and the spirit was so strong and it was awesome then we were supposed to see them later that week but when we went by Ron, the father, was not there so we just talked to Jeanie, who is the member, and we invited them to a primary activity on Saturday and to church on Sunday but they were not able to make it to the activity and we where waiting for them at church but they were not there when it started so we went and sat down but 20 minutes into the meeting they showed up and it was a miracle because we had a Multi stake Conference yesterday so church started an hour earlier than normal so they did not know but luckily a member who lives in the basement went up and asked if they knew so they were able to make it so it was pretty much a miracle! 

  We were also able to meet a bunch our other investigators and had some really good lessons we even had our investigator Luyi sing in the choir for the ward. We did not have much else happen this week but it was really good!

Love Elder Slack

Loving the people that we teach will help us become the best teachers we can be

 This week was great! It was a little harder to see people that it usually is but  things still worked out it just took a little more effort than normal but we where able to see most of the people that we are teaching. We had a couple that we started teaching 4 weeks ago came to church yesterday and it was so awesome! Their names are Mathew and Crystal  and they loved Church which was good because we had a combined priesthood relief society meeting and we discused the ward mission plan and they where not confused or weirded so as long as we get through fast sunday with them everything should be good! We went and stopped by after church and talked to them about how they liked it and they told us they really enjoyed it and they loved the classes and then crystal told us how she has been going online and chating with missionaries on mormon.org and asking questions and she has really enjoyed it! They are so cool. They told us how they are going to 100 mile house, which is like 8 hours north of Abbotsford, and we told them that we had a church up there too and they told us that they wanted to go to our church while that they are up there. 

  

  We were also able to see Joel this week and Elder Hunter and I  have really been focusing on helping people progress and we really wanted to help Joel to keep progressing since he came to church last week and so we had planed to talk about Baptism and priesthood Authority because he has been struggling with believing that there is only one true church but when we went there we ended up teaching Repentance and found out that he has really been struggling with forgiving him self and is not sure where he will go after this life so we talked a lot about how God will forgive us and how that is what he wants to do because he loves us so if we repent he will forgive as long as we are sincere. It was a really good lesson and the spirit was very strong and it was really great! He commited to pray to know if God forgives him of the things that he has done in the past. 

  

   I also was studying charity this week because we had a fireside with President Burt's family and one of the things that one of his sons talked about is how loving the people that we teach will help us become the best teachers we can be because if we love the people we will want to do everything that to help them progress. So I have been studying Charity to help my teaching and when we taught Joel we really focused on loving him and showing him that we really care about him and want the best for him and it was so awesome! It was one of the best lessons that we had with him and I have had on my mission all because of the love that we showed him!

   The only thing that was not that fun this week was that it rained everyday this week. I don't think I have ever seen it rain everyday for a whole week in my life so that was a mile stone for me. Besides that nothing crazy happened this week.

Love Elder Slack

{Jan 26, 2016} We got to go to the temple which was awesome

This week has been really good. We have been able to teach a lot of people this week and have seen a lot of success and progress in some of the people that we are teaching. We had four people come o church with us on Sunday. 

  

 One Guy the Elder Hunter and I found my first day back here in Abby came for the first time on Sunday! His name is Joel and we have been seeing him pretty regularly since the beginning of this year and he has been reading the Book of Mormon. He has not read to much but he has liked what he has read but has struggled with the Idea that there is one true Church and has really struggled with forgiving himself for things that he has done in his past but we finally got him to come to church and it was Awesome! I actually had to give a talk on Conversion in Sacrament, which I was not the most excited for but after sacrament Joel came up t me and asked if I had wrote that just for him and he told me that he felt that it was just for him. It was so cool to see how much church Helped him and how Happy he was at church. Then we had that guy, Clint, that the Brookswood Elders called us about last week who wanted to come to church and he came again this week and we where able to talk to him while at church and he told us how he feels better when he comes to church and he likes the thing that we are teaching and before he met the Brookswood Elders that he felt that he needed a change in his life and that he should go to a church but he did not know which one so when the Elders in Brookswood talked to him he decided to come to ours and he really likes it we are going to see him tonight and he told us that some of his friends where going to be there that where also interested in learning more about what we teach! We also had that part member Family that came last week come again and we where also able to teach them this week and they are so cool and are really loving coming to church! Ron who is a non member told us how he has been reading the Book of Mormon with his son and he also told us how since they have been coming to church and have been reading that it has really helped him and his family through the tough times that they have been going through. 

 

 We also where able to finally see the Hiltz family that we found three weeks ago and we where able to teach them about the Plan of Salvation and Invite them to come to church this week and they said they would come and the mom, Crystal, is really excited to come! They are really interested to learn more and to find out if this is true.  

    We have been able to find a lot of new people to teach like a lady that we met with on Thursday named Natasha who actually was a media referral from her self but when we called her last week and she told she was not sure because she heard that are church did not allow divorce and she has been divorced but we finally convinced her let us come by and hear us out and when we went over and we started to talk to her and she told us how she was very nervous because she thought that we might get mad at here and condemn her but she told us at the end of our meeting that she felt really calm and peaceful and she had not felt that in her life since she stopped going to her last church five years ago. It was such and Awesome lesson and we talked alot about the Atonement and how we can over come our trails through Christ and she invited us to come back so we told her about the sisters that just got put into our ward and she told us that we should have them come over! So we saw some pretty Sweet Miracles this week and We have a lot of great people that we are working with right now! We did have to give some up because the Abby 2nd ward got sisters last week so we gave them some of the sisters that we where working with! 

  

We also were able to go to the Temple Today which was awesome because I have been able to go to the temple in 15 months so it was really nice to go back there and just feel the spirit that is there!

  Well I gotta go see ya!

 Love Elder Slack