We did not even plan to be downtown at that time but we felt that we should go there

   This week was not quite the same as the previous. We where not able to see many of our investigators this week but we where still able to see Ryan and he is doing so good! We were also able to find some really cool potentials that we are going to be teaching this week!

    Ryan is still doing amazing and is still changing a ton! He set a goal to be fully clean by Sunday so we are really praying for him that he can do it! We had a really good lesson this week with him and we taught him about the temple and how we want to not only to be baptized but to also continue on and prepare to go to the temple and it was such a good lesson and he told us how he wants to do that and make it a goal and how he wants to be married and sealed there! It was so Legit!!! He has such a good testimony of the Gospel and how it can change peoples lives! He even brought his cousin to church yesterday! He is pretty much doing everything a member does except he is not baptized but he is a great missionary and pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread. He is preparing to be baptized in August so I hope that I am still here when he does!

  We also went on an exchange with the YSA Elders this week and I was with Elder Evans in their area and We were in Downtown Victoria and while I was talking to someone another guy came up behind me and just stood there until I finished my conversation and then he just asked me what I was doing so I told him how I was a missionary and how we share a message of Jesus Chirst and then he told me how he wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ and that he had tried to contact a Catholic priest but he never got back to him and then someone told him that "those guys who walk around downtown in white shirts and ties teach people". He said that he did not believe the guy that told him it so he came to see if we really do that and once he saw that is what we were doing he came up and started to talk to me. It was so cool because before this we had been walking around for 35 minutes and had no luck and we did not even plan to be downtown at that time but we felt that we should go there and it was a Miracle! His name is Jasam and he is from Iran and we are going to see him tonight!

Well that is all the time I have but Victoria is about the most beautiful place in BC and I am really loving it here sooo talk to you next week!

Love Elder Slack

{Aug 17} Canada has been so awesome!

     Well this week was great! Elder Mattingley is so cool. He is from Layton, Utah. Brookswood has been really good but is a lot different than Surrey. Mostly because it not as big and we do a lot more tracting here and the area is a lot nicer than Surrey.

     We did a lot of service this week, well we did a lot of moving. We also were finally able to see one of our investigators Shelia who has been out of town. Sheila was meeting with missionaries like 20 years ago and was about to be baptized but someone told her she couldn't get baptized or something like that but anyways the missionaries got back in contact with her a couple months ago and she is so cool and knows that the church is true! We are just teaching her the things that she was taught before and she has forgotten and helping her quit drinking coffee but she is really solid and could definitely get baptized this transfer. So we are really trying to work hard to help her get to the point where she is ready and worthy to get baptized. She also owns a farm and gave us some fruit from it and it was really good!

     Speaking of food, in the Brookswood ward we literally get fed every night. Since I have gotten here every night for dinner we go to a members house. It's so cool except for the fact that I have had to start running again so I don't get fat! It is really cool though because the members here are so cool and really are missionary minded which is awesome! The ward here has been really good about helping us with anything we need especially coming out to lessons with us.

 

     Some other cool things that happened this week while finding were on Friday I was on exchanges with Elder Haase, (who is in the other ward in Langley and just got to the mission field), we were out contacting at the bus loop and started talking to a lady named Amanda and she started asking a lot of questions about things that she had heard about Mormons and we talked to her and told her what we really believed and it was really cool because at first she told us she didn't really want to talk to us because she "knew what we where about" so we asked her "what were we about"? so she started to tell us random things and we taught her what we really believe in and the truth about Mormons. By the end she was really interested and very curious about what we teach but sadly Satan is a big jerk and right in the middle of talking to her, her bus showed up early and she had to run to catch so we didn't get any contact info but hopefully we will run in to her again.

     This week has been really good and Elder Mattingley and I have been working on trying to build up our teaching pool and finding more people to teach. It has been going good and has really helped me remember that we need to rely on the Lord in everything and never think that we can do it our selves. Canada has been so awesome! Even though they are having their hottest summer in 25 years. I love it here! Well I gotta go.

Love Elder Slack

Another crazy week in Surrey

     Well this week was pretty awesome and pretty crazy. Last Monday Elder Lawlor and Elder Samis got really sick and were just throwing up like crazy and so they spent half of the week inside dying but one good thing about it was that Elder McCown and I got Elder Tolman with us for 3 days, which was a blast!

      Monday was pretty crazy though because after p-day ended we spent almost 2 hours driving around picking up stuff for Elder Lawlor and Elder Samis so that they had some medicine and food to eat while they where at home. Then we went to Surrey Central and just talked to people and that’s always interesting because there are always crazy people at Surrey Central and they always tell us really weird things. Like one Guy called me a racist because I was religious and how when I die I am going to look at Jesus and the he is going to tell me that I was wrong and that old man was right. Needless to say there are some really weird people at Surrey Central. 

      Then Tuesday was pretty crazy. In the morning we walked around and Elder Tolman, when he is walking, waves at cars so Elder McCown and I started to do it too and we got a lot of people to wave back and it was actually pretty fun and made finding people a little different so it didn't feel like we were doing the same thing that we always do. Then in the evening from 5 to 9 we has lessons with investigators set up so we were literally running from appointment to appointment. It was so crazy and we were so busy that we didn't even have time to eat dinner. It was really good because we got to see Gus and he was doing really good and he hasn't smoked in a week! Which is awesome because that was like the only thing keeping him from being baptized so that was really cool to hear. Then we met a guy named Rudy, he is from Haiti, and is trying to figure out which church he should join. He is looking for the right Christian church. He is pretty cool and we talked to him about the restoration and he really wants to find the truth. Then we saw Sonny, who is East Indian and is really cool and he loves meeting with us but he has had a lot of problems in the past with drugs and depression and he just wants to over come all of that and follow Jesus Christ and then we saw Janet and her son Scott. Scott is a recent convert and Janet is investigating but Scott has autism and he always tells us stories of how he tried to ask a bunch of girls out on dates and just random stuff and its so funny. His stories are hilarious. We saw them last night too and he told us how he wanted to get tattoos and piercings but he still believes in the church but doesn’t agree with that part so we talked to him and convinced him to not get them and to remember how ugly they would look when he got older. 

       Then on Wednesday we found a really cool investigator named Dillon and he is 15. He is living in a care home and he has gone through a lot in his life and he has a lot of questions of why do bad things happen to good and innocent people. He has read a lot of the bible and is super prepared and so solid. We got to see him twice this week and he is really cool!

       On Friday Elder Kelly and I where reunited and got to go on an exchange! It was so fun to be with Elder Kelly again even though we weren't in Kamloops. We went and talked to a ton of people all day and had a few lessons too. It was just fun to reminisce about Kamloops and what's happened over the last 6 months. I forgot how well me and Elder Kelly got along because we basically spent the whole time laughing when we were not sleeping or teaching.

  Overall this week was great and a ton of Fun!

Love Elder Slack

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

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)

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

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)