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

{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

{1/18/16} Abbotsford is Amazing!!

Abbotsford is Amazing!! These last few weeks we have seen so many miracles and have been able to teach so many people! One of the coolest things happened Thursday night when we got a text right before we went into a lesson from a random member of a person that told us how they had met missionaries a while back and that they wanted to become a member of the church and that she had been going to church in Vancouver with her boyfriend! That is a miracle in and of it self but when we figured out her name I figured out it was a lady that Elder Boehmer and I found last April that was coming to church and had a baptismal date but then her life got really crazy and she dropped off the map. So that was one of the coolest things that happened this week! 

  We also had a part member family come to church yesterday and come for all of church. We talked to the husband after priesthood and he told us how he really likes the church and this is something that he is really looking into and he has seen how much his wife has changed the last few weeks since she has been reading the Book of Mormon and came to church last week!

  Then Brookswood called us Saturday night telling us that they met a guy that wanted to come to church so we got him a ride to church and he came to church yesterday and he really liked it and told us that he really wants to learn more! 

  We have been able to see a lot of really cool miracles this week and this transfer! I really love Abbotsford and I am really glad to be able to stay here for another transfer!

Love Elder Slack

I Love Abbotsford!

This week was so great! We were able to see most of our investigators and were also able to find a few new ones.

 We were able to see most of our investigators this week. We were able to see Luyi who is a home stay student and is staying with one of the families in our ward. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was really good. He asked a lot of questions about baptism and the need of authority and it went really well. He is really thinking about baptism right now but he wants to make sure that is what he should do so we will continue to teach him and to help him build his faith. 

We also got to see Gord who is doing really good. We were able to find a good member who was able to connect with him and we had a really good lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he committed to come to church and He came! We have been trying to get him to church all transfer and he came with his two kids and it was great! The kids really enjoyed primary and he really enjoyed church and finally started to read the Book of Mormon too. So he is doing really great! We have seen some good progress from the last couple weeks from him.

We have also been able to find some really cool people recently and we were able to see one of them last night after our specialized training. His name is Joel and he was really interested in the Book of Mormon so we were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon last night and it was really good. He really wants to change his life around and is trying to forgive himself for things that he has done in the past so we are helping him know how to do that. 

   We have seen a lot of success this last week and have been able to see a lot of people and to teach a ton! I Love Abbotsford and I am really glad that I got sent back here and got to spend some more time here. Hopefully I don't get sent somewhere else in a couple weeks when transfer comes again.

Yeah, it snows a lot here in Canada

   Well not too much else to report except it snowed here again! not much stayed and it is mostly slush now but it did stay for a little bit so I did get some snow in my last Christmas in Canada. Well I gotta go!

Love, Elder Slack

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!

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