The Spirit of Christmas

This week has been really different from most, probably because it was Christmas this week. But it has been a really great week! We went caroling with the Mathiesons on Monday, which was really fun not because I like or am good at singing but because the Mathiesons are really awesome and are a lot of fun, which is probably why we go visit them every week.

The Mathiesons

           Besides that nothing too interesting happened until Thursday except we did get to go visit Harmon and Sukhi, who are a Sikh couple that we are teaching and they are so cool they are really open to visiting with us and are really seeking for the truth. One thing that I learned on Christmas Eve is that people are not that nice and not too open to 3 teenage kids knocking on their door so we decided not to go tracting on Christmas because we figured out people are not going to like us knocking on their door on Christmas day.

           Well, Christmas Day was really cool except we still had to wake up at 6:20 and go exercise and had to do studies before we could open presents so we had to wait until 10 am to open presents which I have never done in my life!! It took all my self-control but it was really great because I got a really nice sweater and a fresh sweater vest, which is really sweet. I also got some sick ties that have Captain Moroni and Angel Moroni on them and I also got a ton of candy! Which is probably not the best because I am probably going to get really fat and then have to get sent down to Vancouver so I can walk off all the weight I gained. 

Bring on the candy!

Then!! We got to Skype our families which was really awesome because we weren’t even allowed to Skype until the Monday before Christmas so it was really sweet except we couldn’t figure out how to set up Skype so that we could all Skype at the same time but finally we got it all figured out and it was really cool except Krista was crying and I don’t even know why, she got an iPhone and an iPad for Christmas so I don’t know what she was so upset about ;) 

 

Broadcasting to the TV for the whole family to see

When he finally called...

After that our Bishops wife made an awesome breakfast, which ended up being for lunch.

Picture that Bishop's wife texted home

Then we basically just went and visited The Peirsons, Mathiesons, Brooks, and Fraziers. It was really nice to be with family even if it wasn't our own.

Hangin' with the Fraziers

           Then on Friday we weekly planned and then went on exchanges and Elder Tolman and me went down to Merritt with Elder Eshrich. It was really interesting because Merritt only has about 10,000 people and they only have 20 active members. That is because a lot of the people are druggies and that is not being mean because we went and tracted for almost 3 hours and half of the house smelled like weed or the people were drunk.  So, Merritt is pretty interesting to say the least. For dinner we went to a member’s house and talked mostly about football, baseball movies and his mission.  He served in Norway and he told us that they were encouraged to go to harry potter in the movie theater and we found out that Norway is a lot different than here and some crazy stuff happened to him that I am not going to talk about.

Christmas Day also happened to be Elder Tolman's birthday. Happy Birthday Elder Tolman!!

Elder Tolman, me & Elder Kelly

It snowed...again!

Elder Tolman's snowman

Well, I have to go because time is up but talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Slack

Greetings from Canada, eh!

Zoomed into British Columbia - Kamloops is just east of Vancouver

Have a very merry CHRISTmas and remember what CHRISTmas is really about!

This week was pretty sweet and a little disappointing when I found out that my sister got an iPhone 5 when I specifically asked for her not to get one until she was 16 so I have really realized how unfair life is this week because of that ;)

           Besides that this week was really awesome! Monday was pretty hectic because we had to go to about a million different stores to buy things and to get Christmas presents for people so it was petty crazy but we finally got everything done and went to a dinner appointment with Bishop S’s family and unexpectedly Blaine, the bishops son, had his girlfriend over, who is not a member, and so we had a really awesome lesson with her and the family. Overall we have been really blessed with lessons and having members at the lessons. This week we had 11 lessons with investigators and had members with us which is the most I have ever had and at least 4 of those were unexpected, like, we just went to a members house for a visit and they had a non member there. We have had a lot of unexpected blessing come to us.

           Actually we went out on Tuesday night to go visit some investigators and the lessons fell through so we just quickly went to another investigators house, Joey if anyone remembers Joey, and we really haven’t visited with Joey too much after he told us he didn’t want to be baptized and felt he didn't really need to meet with us anymore. We went over there and taught a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon and he told us that he has really felt lost recently so we taught how the Book of Mormon and prayer are amazing ways to find answers and to help us with difficult decisions in our lives. He seemed to be really open to meeting with us again and we committed him to start reading the Book of Mormon.

           Probably the coolest thing that happened this week was on Thursday morning. We went to the Church to weekly plan. When we got there the parking lot was full of cars and we couldn’t figure out why until Elder Kelly asked what was going on and we found out that there was a Christmas Concert going on at the school across the street. So we went inside and Elder Kelly received divine revelation that we should go buy hot chocolate and make it then we should hand out hot chocolate to the people when the concert is over so that is what we did. We called the Kamloops 1^st Elders to help us and they came over and we went ant talked to a bunch of people as they where going back to their car and handed out a ton of cards and pamphlets to people but sadly not many people took the hot chocolate so he have like 3 gallons of hot chocolate left in our Fridge but that doesn’t matter because we talked to a lot of people and that is all we really wanted to accomplish. It was really cool and pretty successful. Then on Friday we got a referral!! From someone who went to Mormon.org and requested us to come over and visit them and sadly we have not gotten over there yet but it is so cool to actually get someone to come to us and tell us they want us to come to them. 

           One thing I have really seen this last week is how The Lord is hastening his work and it’s going to happened whether we do anything or not. There are people who are out there who are ready to hear the gospel and they are waiting for us. They may not be waiting for 2 teenage boys to knock on their door but they may be waiting for their friend to talk to them. It is not just missionaries who are helping them hasten His work but it is the members who are also a huge part of it. Even though missionaries do it full time for 2 years, there are people who won’t listen to missionaries but they will listen to their friends. So have a very merry CHRISTmas and remember what CHRISTmas is really about.

If you didn’t know I actually get to Skype home on Christmas because our mission president is Awesome!! We don’t have to be old school and call which is Awesome!! Anyways...

Love Elder Slack

​Elder Kelly's sister sent us some really "fresh" pillow cases

One of our Christmas trees with our presents

Our sweet District!!

Me Elder Woolf, Hawkes, Walker, Tolman, Esrich,and Kelly!

​My "fresh" (I see a pattern here...new word??) new hat. I feel I have really adapted to Canada very well.

The humble circumstances of Christ's birth

Well this week has been pretty Awesome!! Because we had a lot of lessons and found a lot of new investigators to teach and we also got some of our current investigators to progress and to help them with some of the things that they are struggling with. It has also been a sad week because one of my best friends on my mission, Elder Wood, and I know you asked about him dad and yes we have a special friendship bond that can never be broken, left Kamloops and is going home on Wednesday so that was kind of sad but that's the mission life. 

Will and Elder Wood in their matching suits "Looking Fresh", farewell Elder Wood!

It was also really awesome because Elder Walker, my MTC companion, is in my District and Elder Kelly is the District Leader so he went on exchanges with Elder Walkers companion and Elder Tolman and I got to go on exchanges with Elder Walker so we reunited the MTC duo. It was awesome to be in the field with Elder Walker because he is awesome and I thought I might never see him in the mission but it was really cool. 

The Dynamic Duo has been reunited! Elder Walker & Will

While we were on exchanges we didn't have a ton of lessons but we did get to have quite a few member visits and they were so great. We went and visited Ray, who is a YSA in our ward, and he served a mission in New York City, Chinese speaking. He was really cool and we taught a really good lesson about the video the church put out "He is the Gift" and we have been committing all of the members that we teach to give a Book of Mormon to someone they know this Christmas season and share with them the same thing that brings them so much joy and peace.

Working out in our apartment

The 'tripanionship' of Will, Tolman and Kelly

One of our trees with our new fireplace, Thanks Mesquite 2nd Ward Relief Society!!

      We also had Zone Meeting on Wednesday and we were told to read the talk by Elder Holland called "Maybe Christmas Doesn't Come From a Store", which is crazy because that is the same talk that my Mom sent me 3 weeks ago. When I read it one thing that he really talks about is how humble the circumstances that Jesus was born into. Which is something that I have never really thought about but as I was studying I realized that Jesus could have been born in to a Kings family and been treated very well and been someone of great importance and still accomplish the Atonement the same but he was born in the most humble of circumstance and probably lived the hardest life that anyone has ever lived so that he would know the pain that everyone goes through in this life so that no one could say they had it worse than Christ did. He literally was born in a stable, was a carpenter, was homeless and went through the Atonement at the Garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross for all of mankind. There is not one point in Jesus Christ’s life when we can say that he had it pretty good and that life was easy for him. There is no reason for us to be prideful and not use the Atonement because he did it all for us. He lived that life for us. Not for himself because he was perfect and didn't need the Atonement to live with God again but God and He knew that we couldn't accomplish it with out that so he volunteered to give his life so that we may have eternal life. He loved us so much and wanted us to live with him again. This is something that I never really thought about until I came on a mission and started to really discover this gospel and what Christ truly did for us. This time of year is when we should really focus on Christ and what he did for us and it is a time when we should share it with others who do not know it so they may feel the same joy and peace that Christ has brought in to our lives. This is the time to share the true meaning of CHRISTmas and what it is really a holiday for. So during this Christmas season really reflect on the savior and all that he has done for us personally and strengthen your personal relationship with him. This is something that I have really been trying to do over the last few days and it is something that brought me even more joy in my life. This Gospel is the thing on this Earth that can bring us the most joy in this life and this time on earth can be so much more enjoyable if we just put Christ in our lives and truly rely on him and also to share this with others even if it is hard. Trust me I know how hard it can be sometimes but if we rely on Christ we can did it!! Talk to you next week

Love Elder Slack

He is the Gift

Well, this week has been really Awesome!! We got our new car on Monday and Elder Tolman finally came up to Kamloops so now we are in a Tri which is a little weird because our house is set up for 2 people not 3 so we have had to adjust some stuff to fit 3 people and now our bedroom is pretty much just beds and no space. Elder Tolman is really cool and he is from Coquitlam, which is just outside of Vancouver. He is Autistic but a very high functioning Autistic so he has to be in a Tri. But he is really cool and he farts like crazy. Really I do not know how he does it, like I didn’t know that someone could have that much gas in their body but it’s actually pretty funny. 

Elder Kelly, Elder Tolman and Will

Elder Tolman, Elder Kelly and Will

  We have had a ton of lessons this week with investigators, less actives and members. It has been really awesome and we have been super blessed, unfortunately we do not have anyone that is really close to baptism but we have found a lot of new people to teach and I’m kind of starting to get comfortable with knocking on doors which is nice because that is something that I really struggled with at the beginning of my mission and I still get pretty nervous but it is getting easier. We have had some awesome lessons this last week especially with members because we have been sharing the "He is the Gift" video and really talking about the true meaning of Christmas and how this is a holiday to celebrate Christ and to show others the love that Christ has for them through service and through gifts. One thing that I really thought of is how much I got caught up in the other things that happen with Christmas. We should always remember that Christmas is to celebrate Christ because he is so important to us and he has shown us so much love and continues to show us endless love. There are a lot of people that do not believe or even know the love that Christ and during Christmas people are a lot more receptive to the message of the Gospel and we need to share the gift to help those who do not know the joy that comes from Christ and his Atonement. Well, I have to go and I hope you all have a very awesome Christmas and Share the Gift!! If you haven’t watched it GO WATCH "He is the Gift" and then share it!!!

Love Elder Slack

P.S MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"We saw a lot of blessings.."

Well, this week has been really interesting and very different from the others. If you didn’t know we crashed our car on Monday and we have been on foot for the whole week and have walked about 30 miles since Tuesday and it’s snowed 3 times in the last 6 days.

Still snowing and no car 

 We saw a lot of blessings on Tuesday. While we were walking up to a former investigators house we stopped at three houses to help people shovel their driveways and they all said that we could come back and so we set up return appointments!! A lot of stuff like this has happened this last week, like a less active family just randomly showed up at church this week and we set up an appointment to go visit with them. It has been really cold here this last week anywhere from -10° to -25° celsius (-13° to 14° fahrenheit) I know that it doesn’t sound really cold but it feels a lot colder when we are walking outside for 5 hours a day. 

  We did get an American Thanksgiving on Thursday because there is an American family that lives in our ward and moved here a year ago. It was so good and very awesome but they couldn’t make rolls as good as Grandma Bette's. At least we got an American Thanksgiving and they have an awesome bear pelt hanging up on their wall.

Bear pelt at Gilespies

 We had a really good spiritual thought about the Atonement and how important it is in our lives. It’s not just for fixing mistakes but it can be used for every aspect of our lives and is so much more than being forgiven of our sins. It can be used when we are sad or in pain or need strength. We do need it because as humans we cannot make it to live with Heavenly father again without it. This shows how much we need Christ in our lives because without Christ this life would be hopeless. Luckily we do have Christ and we need to rely on Christ because we cannot get through this life with out Christ. This week has shown me how much Christ does help me and helps all of us with everything and I really learned how grateful I am for things like a car and for a heater and I am really grateful for the members in our ward that drove us around and let us come visit them so that we wouldn't have to walk around in the cold. I also realized how much I dislike the cold. I almost forgot but I had to speak in Sacrament, which, if you didn’t know, I really do not like doing and the heater in the chapel wasn't working so it was like 14° celsius (57° F) during sacrament and it was freezing up on the stand. That was a very interesting experience that we had at church this last Sunday. Two talks that I read to prepare for my talk that I thought were amazing where "You Matter to Him" by Elder Uchtdorf in the 2011 November Ensign and "We Never Walk Alone" by President Monson in the 2013 November Ensign.

Love, Elder Slack

P.S We do get a new car today and Elder Tolman is coming up tonight. If you didn’t know we are getting a new companion and we will be in a Tri this transfer.

Our sweet Christmas Tree

Me and Elder Kennedy

Elder Smith, Elder Wood and myself

"Show me counts more than tell me"- Elder Bednar

Well, This week has been pretty crazy because Joey was supposed be baptized on the 29th and while we where on exchanges Elder Jacobs and I were supposed to go give Joey the Baptismal Interview and 20 minutes before we where supposed to be there he texted us and said he couldn't meet and that he didn't want to be baptized on the 29th anymore. So that was pretty rough and we were not sure what happened because Elder Kelly and I met with him the night before and he told us that he was ready and wanted to be baptized. So, no one said it would ever be easy so we cried about it a lot (that's a joke) and now we are moving on and we are still meeting with Joey and hopefully he will remember why he wanted to be Baptized in the first place. It’s ok though, everyone has their agency and we want them to want the gospel in their lives and want to be baptized.

         On another note we met with a Jehovah's Witness and that was a very interesting lesson. He talked a lot about Jehovah being Gods name and how we didn't say it when we prayed and I asked him that "if we don't say Jehovah then does God not listen to our prayers?" and he said "yes" and he said that no one has seen God and lived and I don't want to say we were bashing but we shot that down fast with our "vast" knowledge of the bible but it was really cool that a scripture came to my head (Genesis 32:30) that showed that was wrong but it was not a very productive lesson  because he was not seeking truth he just wanted to bash with us. It strengthened my testimony because I did have that scripture come to my mind, a scripture that I marked and read once like 4 weeks ago. It really showed me that D&C 84:85 is TRUE!!!

         On Saturday we met with Steve, an investigator who I have met twice since being here, and we had the Plan of Salvation planned for him and when we prayed before we went to the lesson we felt that we should read Ether 12 so we did and while we were reading it and explaining it he said that he felt that it was speaking to him and that it was something he needed to hear. We committed him to be baptized on January 24th!! so that was really Awesome and the spirit was so strong and it was just AWESOME!!!

         One thing that I have been thinking about since I studied Mosiah 12 a week ago, and it’s about Abinadi and what I got out of it was being an example. "Show me counts more than tell me"- Elder Bednar. As Members of the Church of Jesus Christ we need to be an example to the world. People watch us and if we don't follow what we believe, people see that and it either shows them how important it is to us or how it is not that important to us. We may not see it or want to be it but we are all missionaries by how we act and what we do. In Mosiah 12 Abinadi is imprisoned and questioned by Noah and his wicked priests but Abinadi asks the Priests one question and he asks them what they teach the people and they tell him they teach the law of Moses and he says "if ye teach the Law of Moses then why do ye not keep it?" This is how people look at us. We can tell people all day what we believe but if we do not live it then it doesn't mean anything to them but they will think that living it is not that important. When people see us they should know how important the gospel is to us and they should know that we are Disciples of Christ by how we act. We should always remember that it might be hard sometimes but just think we have God and Jesus Christ on our side!! We don't need to fear anything.

         On a side note we crashed our car (What?!) today because we were driving to email and it just snowed so apparently it was pretty slick and we were taking a corner a little fast and we just slid into the curb and messed up the alignment pretty bad but we are ok but now we have to walk in the winter so that should be fun and a very interesting experience

Love Elder Slack

P.S.

I might get transferred this week so wait on the presents but I will know in a few days and I haven't talked to them because I don't have their emails.

Well......I was just about to publish this when I got another email!! 

Well we just got Transfer calls.......I'm staying!! and so is Elder Kelly so that's really Awesome. We are getting put in a tri though with Elder Tolman, who is from B.C and has autism but is serving a fulltime mission so that's really Awesome. I was getting pretty nervous because I didn't want to leave and I didn't want Elder Kelly to leave so this is pretty Awesome and I'm really excited for this next transfer!! 

         So to elaborate on the whole car wreck. It had just snowed this morning. We were coming into the church parking lot, to email, and we took the turn a little fast and we just slid in to the curb, apparently mistaking the church parking lot for an ice skating rink, and dented the two left side wheels and we had to get it towed to a collision repair shop. It is going to take 2-3 weeks to get it fixed and we will be at least 2-5 days without a car before we can maybe get a courtesy car. We will probably be walking for the next few days and getting rides from the members so this should be interesting. I'm sure we will gain a whole new appreciation for the car that we had. Maybe this way I can lose the 5 pounds that I have gained on my mission. I guess we needed to be humbled a little bit. Other than that its been the same and we are both ok. We did not get hurt at all from the crash just our pride and were really nervous on how President Burt was going to take it but he was very nice about but just said don't let it happen again and do not let it affect your work. We will be working twice as hard as before to keep our pace the same as when we did have a car. Everything has been going great. Its crazy to think in a week I will be out for 2 months 1/12 of my mission is already over, which is crazy to think and it feels like I only left the MTC a few days ago but it has been Awesome.

oh, and we got some pictures too!

​My B.C License - Interesting story since Im 18 I had to get a restricted license because in Canada you have to be 19 to get a full license so I have to have an N on the car to say that I can not have more than one person in the car with me and Its a 5 year license because you can only get a 2 year license if its a full license and it cost $75.00!!! which is crazy 

"My sweet new Canadian slippers"

​Our District before Transfers Left to Right  Elder Hawkes Elder Jacobs Elder Wilds Elder Wood Thee Elder Slack Elder Kelly and Nial, Thought Krista would like that. 

​This is are Baller picture because we are all such beasts on the court. Me and Elder Wood got a new Canada baseball shirts and they are pretty sweet!

"It finally snowed in Kamloops!"

A week full of firsts

Well this week was pretty crazy and its been getting really cold here. The temperature doesn’t go into the positive anymore, it’s anywhere from -1° to -12° Celsius and then half the time the wind blows so its been getting pretty cold and I am freezing!

 Well, on Monday we emailed in the morning and took less time so that we could have a District P-Day. We went and played Ultimate Frisbee and Basketball and not to be prideful but my team of Me, Elder Wood, and Elder Wilds was pretty good, but we didn’t keep score cause that would be breaking white handbook rules but we were pretty awesome and then after P-day we went to a members house for FHE. That’s pretty much all we did on p-day which was pretty uneventful.

 Here’s where it gets crazy (wait for it....) We got a call Monday night that we needed to be in Vernon by 1 and Vernon is 2 hours away so we had to drive there right after studies to get to Zone Meeting on time. 

Will and Elder Kelly in Vernon

Will and Elder Kelly mastering the selfie

At Zone meeting I met Trey Bohne's cousin Elder Baker! He's a pretty cool guy but anyways Zone Meeting was awesome, we really learned about rededicating ourselves to the work and to really focus on our studies and it was really good and then we went on exchanges and I stayed with Elder Smith in Vernon and Elder Kelly went to Kamloops with Elder Kennedy. Right after me and Elder Smith went and taught a guy named Ryan and then we went and knocked on some D's and it was freezing. It was pretty uneventful and we went to a member’s house and taught the restoration and they were really cool and very nice but they knew preach my gospel better than I did. It was a very cold night (...still waiting).

On Wednesday I made my first tie trade and got 4 ties it was pretty sweet! I studied Mosiah 1-5 and they are awesome and Mosiah 10-13 where it talks about Abinadi are amazing chapters too. Most of Wednesday was knocking on D's and traveling but when we got back to Kamloops Elder Kelly and I went and chopped wood for 2 hours and it was crazy but we felt pretty awesome after but sadly Elder Kelly hurt his back and pulled a muscle so I got to do my first anointing on him and Elder Wood gave him a blessing and I also dedicated my first house after that because a member wanted his house dedicated and wanted us to do it so, that was pretty sweet. 

I have had a lot of firsts this week. We finally got to teach Harmon and Suki who we have been trying to teach for the last 4 weeks and they are really awesome. They really wanted to know if the Book of Mormon was true and it was a really awesome lesson. Then we slept over at Elder Wood and Elder Wilds place. It was really fun and Elder Wood is so funny and is really awesome but he is about to go home. 

Will and Elder Wood

I really can not seem to manage my time the last few weeks and I do not have much time so sorry, I have to go I will tell you the rest next week.

Love Elder Slack

...oh, never came, bummer!