It was so cool to see how Heavenly father does truly prepare his children to hear the restored Gospel!

 Well I do not have too much time today but this week has been great! We have been able to teach so much and have had a lot of success in finding too! We found three new people to teach this week by knocking on their door and them just letting us in! It was so legit!! We have seen so many miracles! One of the people that we knocked in to is Clark and we were able to teach him the restoration and when we got to the first vision and the Book of Mormon he was so shocked. He told us how he had never been taught that before and wondered why no one else taught about there being another prophet on the earth. It was so cool to see how Heavenly father does truly prepare his children to hear the restored Gospel!

   We also had some really good lessons with Ryan who is down to 2 cigarettes a day at the most! He had been coming to church every week and has been reading the Book of mormon like crazy! He even started to read the gospel principles book to and he is really loving it!

 Well I have to go but thanks to everyone for all the Birthday wishes!

Love Elder Slack


Yep, you read that right...it's this missionary's birthday! He's finally hit the big 2-0! Crazy! How did this boy...

Get to be so old, where has the time gone...but, just look at him now...a mom couldn't be prouder. What a wonderful young man he has become. 

Coolest experience of my mission to see how big of a help members are to this work

     This week has been really amazing and as you can see by the subject line, which I usually never use, but I felt it was appropriate for this occasion. So I will start this story with last Sunday. So we went to visit a couple, The Merretts, and we followed up on someone that they had talked about at a cottage meeting we had my first Sunday here where they talked about a guy in their building named Peter. They told us how they had been talking to Peter and had told him a little about the church; about how they just returned from a mission in England. As we were talking to them and how they could help Peter more they told us how they had planned to have us over for dinner the next Sunday; so they told us that they would invite Peter to come as well and they did!! On Sunday we went over for dinner and Peter and his wife came and we were able to talk a lot about the church and what we believe and what we, as missionaries, do and it was great! At the end of the meeting Brother Merrett asked if we could come visit them again and they said yes so we got their phone number and are going to be seeing them this week or next week! It was one of the coolest experience that I have had on my mission and to see how big of a help members are to this work because they know people and talk to people that we never could as missionaries and people can see members and see how they are just normal people. It also helped me see that I need to do that when I get home, to continue to be a missionary even though I do not have the nametag anymore.

      We have also been working with a guy named Ryan and we have seen him four or five times and he has been coming to church and is really solid! We saw him on Thursday and we had planned to teach him about the word of wisdom and before we started to do anything he asked about the word of wisdom because he had heard about it a little bit at church and from members so we were able to teach him the word of wisdom and he took it so well! He told us how the blessings that come from the word of wisdom are exactly what he wants and he has already been trying to cut down on smoking and in the last 2 weeks he has gone from forty cigarettes a day to ten a day which is amazing especially for not even knowing about the word of wisdom! It was so amazing to see how prepared he is and how much he has changed by himself because he is reading the Book of Mormon daily and comes to church almost every week! He has changed so much since we have been meeting with him and it mostly has come from himself applying what he has been learning, which is something that we should all be doing. He has told us that he does want to be baptized and that he feels that this is where Gods is telling him to be and he has such a good testimony of the Book of Mormon so once he quits smoking he wants to be baptized! Also he was member referral from someone in the YSA so yeah member work is the way to go!

        We were able to teach quite a bit this week and have been seeing a lot of success and a lot of progression from the people that we are working with! Being on a mission has been a pretty amazing experience and I am very grateful that I still have some time to be here in Canada eh! I have really learned that as we share the Gospel our testimony grows and as we learn more about the gospel and apply it our desire to share the Gospel will increase!

Love Elder Slack

Sometimes we like to just have some poutine :)

Elder Ringheim is a pretty great cook! 

Look at our sweet new Car! runs pretty good:)

I also know that he calls the weak and the simple to perform great things

     This week we were able to see a lot of success in teaching! We were able to do a lot more teaching this week and find some really good people that we are going to meet with this week.

     Monday, after P-Day, started off pretty slow because we were supposed to have a lesson with one of our investigators and then go to a FHE with a family in the ward but we were not able to get a hold of our investigator and the wife in the family fell and had to go to the Hospital on Monday so our evening opened up real quick! So Elder Ringheim and I decided to pray to know where we should go and so after we prayed we felt like we should go by a former investigator that we have been trying to contact so we bused over there and went by him and he did not answer so we decided that there must be a reason that we should be over there so we were walking down the street and I felt like we should go and knock the house on the end of the street and a lady answered and so we talked to her for a little bit and she did not seem too interested until we started to talk about the plan of salvation and she was really intrigued by it and told us that she would invite us in but she had plans later that evening and she was really busy that we but that we could come by next week! So we are going to go by this week and teach her more! Then we kept walking and Elder Ringheim felt like we should knock a house that was across the street and so we did and it turned out to be a lady who was visiting her parents from Mexico and we felt like we should talk about the Plan of Salvation and how it blesses our families and it turned out she had a little daughter and so we talked to her about how we believe that families can be together forever. She told us that she would like to learn more but she was going back to Mexico on Wednesday morning so we told her that there was missionaries in Tijuana where she lived and told her to contact the missionaries there and she told us she would!! So it was so amazing to see how the spirit guides even though our initial thought did not work out there was a reason why we where there!

      Then our week just kept getting better! We were able to see Ryan a guy that the YSA elders passed to us and he is very prepared and he was telling us how since he has been reading the Book of Mormon it has really helped him, especially with his patience at work and he told us how his friends have told him that he has really changed over the last month that he has been meeting with missionaries and coming to church! He has been very prepared and is a very sincere and humble guy. He has been having great experiences with the Book of Mormon and has prayed about it and he has felt that he received an answer that it is true! I have seen so many times how the Book of Mormon changes people and it really is that way that people can come to know if Jesus Christ has restored his Church and brought the fullness of his Gospel back to the Earth! 

      We also had a great Lesson with Matti Lott and his kids and him and his son have come to church the last two weeks! We had dinner with them on Wednesday and were able to teach the Plan of Salvation and it was a really great lesson and Cameron was very interactive and asking a lot of questions so we hope that we can continue to work with them! Hopefully we can help them become fully active and help Cameron get Baptized!

       Then we had a Zone Meeting on Friday which was really good and we talked a lot about conversion but it was a little nerve racking for me because I had to give a training on Conversion in front of 25 people which was very interesting but it went well. I have seen on my mission how as we put in our effort to prepare, the spirit will guide us and help us to accomplish whatever the Lord has asked of us. I have also seen how since I have been on my mission that I have been able to overcome my fears more and put more trust in the Lord to help guide me because I don't think I could have given a training in front of a group that big at the beginning of my mission. I have been able to trust in the Lord and in myself more. 

     A lot of the things that we talked about were about conversion and about why we do things. Do we do it out of obligation or out of a love for the Lord and his Gospel? As we become converted to Christ and his Gospel our desires will be pure and righteous. As we do things out of a love for the Lord we will do them better because we have a pure motivation and the Lord will bless us for that and help us even more. I have been able to think about why I do the things I do and I would invite everyone to do that. I also learned that if we are doing this out of duty and obligation that it's much better than not doing it and God does not expect us to change right this second be he does expect us to be progressing. It is about eternal progression not instant perfection! So it is ok if we are not perfect yet God does not expect us to be but he does ask us to get a little closer everyday and to just get a little better than we were before and that is how we will become more converted!

     I am very grateful for the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that he would love us enough to give his life for us! I know this Gospel is true and that this is His church restored to the earth once again! I also know that he calls the weak and the simple to perform great things and that we can accomplish anything that he gives us as we follow Him and our Saviour! Life was meant to be enjoyed and happy so make it that way and Pure Eternal Joy comes through our Saviour Jesus Chris so "look unto him in every thought. Doubt not fear not!" D&C 6:36

Love Elder Slack

Beautiful sunset in Victoria

Healthy living in Victoria

Peacocks in the park

Miracles still do exist as long as we have faith

Well, this week was really good and a lot less stressful than last week because I am finally starting to figure out the bus system here and District Meeting went well and our investigators are starting to get back to us so this week which was really good! 

         To start off the week we got to see Khaled on Monday and teach him more about the Book of Mormon and then we got to see him on Thursday and give him a church tour and show him the restoration and while we were teaching him we asked him why he continues to meet with us, because he does read a little bit but he never seems to be fully engaged in the few lessons that we have had with him. He told us that he is trying to make friends since he is new to Victoria. So, sadly it turns out that he is not very interested in learning more but just wants to meet new people and make friends so we invited him to some of the activities that the church is putting on but we probably will not be teaching him anymore. 

         We had a really cool miracle happen this week too! While the sisters in our ward where contacting in a park they met this guy Tim, who they were prompted to go talk to, and as they did they told him as missionaries that we teach people lessons and so he told them that he would be interested in hearing one of their lessons. So they taught him the restoration in the park and gave him a Book of Mormon! That night they gave us his number and we called him the next day and were able to see him that day! We gave him a church tour and shared more about the Book of Mormon. It was such a good lesson and he told us how recently he has felt like there was something missing in his life and very recently he has felt that thing is God so he was thinking about getting God more in his life and then the sisters met him and he believes that was a sign that he should look into this path to see if it is the right one. He told us how if we would have met him just a couple months ago he probably would have never met with us but because of what has happened in his life it has prepared him to be open and willing to search for God! It was such a good lesson and it is amazing to see how God prepares his children to hear the restored Gospel and how he softens people’s hearts!

         We were also able to go see a part member family where the two boys in the family are baptized but their mom is not because she has not been able to give up smoking. They used to be pretty regular at church but for the last while they have not been coming so we went and saw them on Saturday night and they came to church on Sunday! We also had a less active member, Matti, come to church with his son Cameron and they came all by their self. It was awesome because Cameron is 10 and has not been baptized so we have been trying to get in to meet with them and they just randomly showed up to church! So Miracles still do exist as long as we have faith.

  This week has been really good and we have been able to see a lot of great things happen in our area! It also does not help that Victoria is beautiful and the weather here is amazing! Especially with the breeze off the Ocean! Pretty amazing place to be in the summer!

Love Elder Slack

Last look of Kelowna before leaving for Victoria

Will in Kelowna

Will & Elder Frye before Will leaves for Victoria

Legislative Building in Victoria (capitol of BC)

Will & his new companion Elder Ringheim in front of the Legislative Bldg in Victoria

Views from James Bay

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

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