Share the Gift

     This week has been a really good one! We have been working with Ryan and he is making some really good progress and he is continuing to move forward to his baptismal date of July 22nd. We were able to teach him the law of tithing and he told us how he did not like giving his money to churches but that this church is different and that he would live the law of tithing and that he wanted to pay his tithing from when he first started to come to church six weeks ago! We have seen so much progress with him and he is doing so well! He really is becoming converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is gaining a strong testimony of the restored Gospel! He is so solid and it is just another testimony of member work because he was brought to church by a friend and he had talked to missionaries before and they had invited him to church but he never came but since his friend brought him to church and it was someone he knew it was different and since then he has been progressing so much and has been doing so good!

      Elder Cowley and I have been able to do a lot of teaching this week and have been able to see some really cool miracles this week one with that referral from the Merretts and we were finally able to see him this week! His name is Peter and he is so Cool! He used to be a financier for the Canadian Government and used to travel all over the world with the Prime Minster and finance projects that they were doing. Anyways he has been retired for a few years because he is confined to a wheel chair and could not travel anymore but when we met with him he told us how he had met a lot of members of our church and he had always been impressed by how we live and how we seem to be good people. He really wanted to know why, so we told him about how we follow the example of Jesus Christ and believe in living what we preach and how we believe it is very important to live the life that we learn about. He is very interested because he grew up Catholic but left it because they told him how asking questions was bad and they would not answer the questions he had but he does still have that belief in Christ and God. He is very interested in learning more and finding out for himself. 

      It is really cool to see how people seem to notice what we do and how we as members do live our lives and that is definitely doing missionary work but if no one would have talked to Peter that work might not have yielded all the fruit it could have. I have seen a lot how important it is not only to live what we teach and doing our best because we will not be perfect and then talking to people and trying to share the Gospel in any way we can, not being crazy weird or pushy, but just sharing what we know has changed and blessed our lives, kind of like how we tell people about a good movie or a good place to eat!

  Well I gotta go so talk you next week!!

Love Elder Slack

Conference was Awesome

Well Conference was Awesome. I wish I would watched Conference when I was home. There were a ton of Good Talks but my favorites were Elder Holland's and Elder Renlunds. All the talks were Awesome but those were my favorites. 

  Elder Renlund's talk that was all about how "He did it for me" The Atonement is so vast in that it covers everyone who has ever lived for all things that we have faced and will face but it is also so personal in that Christ knows how each and everyone of us feels in every moment of doubt, sorrow, pain and sin. He can comfort us in any situation that we are in because he has felt what we are feeling exactly. He loved us enough to do if for us so that we could experience the same joy as he has. As we grow closer to God we will realize how much we are unprofitable servants and see the love that he has for us and the more we will want to do. The more we will strive to follow him exactly.

 Then Elder Holland's talk was amazing on how we need to hold fast to the spirit and the impressions that we receive from it when we are at places like conference or the Temple or at church. But My favorite quote from his talk is " The Lord blesses those who want to improve" We do not need to be perfect to receive the blessings but just like it says in Alma 32 if we no more have a desire to believe also if we have a desire to do good the Lord will Bless us. Sorry I did not have much time today but i'll talk more about conference next week!

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

God works in mysterious ways

     Well this week has been really awesome!! Some really crazy things have happened this week like on Thursday night we just got done with our correlation meeting at the church and when we are just about to leave these 4 East Indian foreign exchange university students walk in and ask if they can have a church tour, so we said of course and we showed them around and gave them our number and they said they would call us back. Then on Friday we were out and we dropped by a person who had told previous missionaries that they could come back and so we went and knocked on the house and the lady that answered said that the person we were looking for moved but then told us we could come back because she was interested in learning about our church because her biological family was Mormon, so we set up a time to come back later that day and had a really awesome lesson. So needless to say we saw some pretty awesome Miracles this week!

     One of the people that we have been working with is Garry and we have been seeing him a lot this transfer. We have really been trying to help him to progress and quit smoking because he has told us several times that he wants to get baptized but he can’t because he still smokes but over the last few weeks he has been really cutting back. So yesterday I fasted that he would be able to over come his smoking addiction and last night we went over to see him and he told us that he had tried smoking but only smoked half a cigarette because it was making him sick. You know what they say God works in mysteries ways. It was so awesome to see him and he is truly progressing and has a strong desire to get baptized. So we set a date for him to be baptized on June 6th and it really looks like he is going to make it.

     One of the other really solid people that we have been working with is Katrina. We met Katrina at the beginning of the transfer and invited her to General Conference and she came but right after that her mom passed away and she was really busy planning the funeral and had a lot on her plate but a few weeks ago she texted us out of the blue and asked when church was so we told her and she came last week! At church yesterday she told us how she found a Book of Mormon 30 day study challenge. So that is insane! She is so awesome and has been prepared by the Lord to hear the Gospel. 

      One of the things that I have really learned on my mission is that it’s not me and my companion that convert people, it’s not us that prepare people but it’s the Lord. Yes, we do teach people and we do help prepare people but it’s someone much bigger than us that brings people to the Gospel. I have loved my mission and have really learned a lot and am really excited to continue on and learn a lot more. 

      I am so grateful for this gospel and for what it has done for me. I am extremely grateful my Savior for giving me the opportunity to share his gospel with others and for giving me the opportunity to choose to live with God again. I know he lives and I know that he is always there for us no matter what we are going through. I know he loves all of us. 

Love Elder Slack

Cousins by birth...friends by choice :)

So proud of this young man's decision to serve a mission. This is Will's cousin Whitley. They are only 8

months apart in age and were quite the little buddies growing up. Even when our families moved apart every time they got together it was as if they'd spent no time apart. I have loved watching them grow up together. I wasn't sure if Whitley was going to go on a mission. For a long time he talked about joining the Army just like his older brother and grandpa before him. After returning back to Vernal after coming down to Will's farewell I got a text from Whit saying he couldn't find Will's phone number. After giving it to him he shared with me why he needed it. He said that Will had set a great example for him and after hearing him speak that morning he knew what he needed to do...serve a mission. He was going to contact his Bishop that next Sunday and start getting ready. He would've been a great soldier but I'm so glad he decided to wait on that for a short while to sacrifice his time and serve a mission. My heart is so full right now as I watch this video over and over again crying each time. Oklahoma is a very lucky and blessed place to have the future Elder Peterson amongst them. Can't wait to hear his sweet stories as well. Congratulations Whitley!!

Oklahoma baby!

Posted by Kim Patterson Anderton on Friday, April 3, 2015

A perfect explanation for why Will chose to serve :)

Repentance is all about change and making things right and better, yeah? So, I am reposting my video now with proper permissions and endorsements. a big thanks to Marshall McDonald:)

Posted by Kallie Clark on Thursday, February 26, 2015

New transfer...new companion...new adventures ahead and it's going to be Awesome!!

Man this week has been Crazy! We where supposed to get transfer calls on Monday night but we didn't so we thought we were in the clear until like 7:30 in the morning on Tuesday when we got a call and I was told that I was leaving and going to Clearbrook, which is in Abbotsford. I was kind of surprised because I felt like I was going to stay but I guess I was needed somewhere else.

Will and his old Zone Leader, Elder Anderson

Saying goodbye to the Mortensons

   At first I was really sad because I didn't want to leave Kamloops because I had been there for a while and knew all of the members and the town really well. I was really comfortable there but I think that is why I left because we don't grow or progress as much when we are comfortable so I guess the change was needed. When we got that call it meant I had to be packed and ready to go by that night, which at first I didn't think would be a problem. I didn't think I had that much stuff. So we decided to go do some service and visit some members until 3:30 and then I would pack until 5. 

I quickly realized that I did not know how to pack all my things into 2 bags and that I had accumulated quite a few things since I got to Kamloops and I needed to fit it into 2 suitcases both under 50 pounds, which doesn't sound hard but weight builds up fast with coats, scriptures, books and a bunch of other junk that I need to take so I had to leave a few things back in Kamloops; Nothing big, just some shirts, hangers and a sweater that another missionary gave me. So it wasn't too bad but I ended up playing Tetris for 2 hours trying to get everything in and under weight.

  Finally I got everything done and we went and did normal missionary stuff and stopped by a few more members’ homes before I had to leave in the morning. It was sad to leave. It almost felt like I was leaving home again because that was my home and I was never transferred before so I had no idea what to expect. The next morning we left to Kelowna to catch the greyhound and to pick up Elder Persson and Tolman’s new companion. When we got their new companion they dropped me off. Then Elder Woolf, Maurer and I took a 5 ½ hour greyhound down to Langley and we didn't get there till 8:30 because we were running behind schedule. It was so long and boring! So I pretty much did no missionary work the whole day but I did get to catch up on my sleep; but it was a pretty boring day.

The tripanionship's last photo together

Kamloops Elders last group photo (L to R) Tolman, Persson, Woolf, Will, Hawkes

   My new area is really awesome and my new companion is sweet. His name is Elder Johnson and he is from Ephraim, UT and he has been out a little over a year. We have a few really awesome investigators that came to church yesterday. Theresa and her son Daniel came for the first time yesterday! They seemed to really like it and Gary came too but it was his 5^th time. They are really cool and are progressing towards baptism so I'm really excited for this new transfer. It’s going to be awesome!! I am really excited to see what happens this transfer.

The Sikh Temple across the street from the church

Well I have to go see ya next week!

Love Elder Slack

Oh yeah One thing that I forgot because i was in Kamloops so long is how funny people think my last name is. I got so many jokes it was crazy! and it was really funny how many people came up to me and told me not to slack off.

Farewell Kamloops, he'll miss you...

Well, it finally happened. Will got his first transfer. I got word this morning that he was leaving Kamloops and heading to Abbotsford, a much larger city just outside of Vancouver. We all will be forever grateful to those in Kamloops, especially the Kamloops 2nd Ward, who looked out for and took such great care of our son. 

I got the following kind words from one of the families Will loved so much in Kamloops:

...We have so enjoyed having him here in Kamloops! We have seen a decided change in him over the few months he has been here. I remember the first night we had him in our home with Elder Kelly and he was so nervous about speaking... said he knew it wasn't his strong point even though he was on a mission where he would have to do it all the time!! He persevered though and continued to bear testimony and share his thoughts and feelings whenever they would come teach us. He and Elder Kelly seemed to share a special bond and were good friends. We visited with him and Elder Person and Elder Tolman on Sunday and there sure has been a difference. He's still a little shy and not one to jump in, but he shares some wonderful spiritual insights and is always happy to tell us how much he loves his family and what they mean to him. He's definitely more comfortable speaking to people and has such a nice spirit about him. You must be so proud of him... he's such a brave Elder and we are grateful to have had him in our ward. We told him to come back and visit us at any time and we would love to see him!! So be assured your wonderful son is doing well and sharing his love of the gospel!! 

I won't ever be able to convey my thanks to families such as this. When a mom can't be there to watch over her son it is SO comforting to know that there are those out there who willingly step up to take care of our sons while they are out serving the Lord. I will be forever grateful. I am extremely humbled.

Whether I go or stay it's where the Lord wants me to be

Well it’s crazy! This transfer is almost over and I think I'm finally going to leave. Which is really sad because I really like Kamloops and Love the Kamloops 2nd ward. I know that whatever happens is for a reason and whether I go or stay is where the Lord wants me to be. This week, just like this transfer, has been hard but it has been something that I have learned a lot from.

  This week while we where tracting one day we knocked on a guy’s door and he was telling us how the Book of Mormon is false because we don't have historical proof and we don't have artifacts and it seems that whenever we talk to people and they try to prove to us that the Book of Mormon is wrong is when I get strong confirmations that the Book of Mormon is true. While we where talking to him we all testified that the book of Mormon was true and it was AWESOME!! The guy didn't want to listen but people are not always ready to hear the gospel and to accept it. It was one of the coolest moments I have had on my mission because I just seemed to get a feeling that I knew that the Book of Mormon was true and that it is the word of God. 

  This work has been really hard, a lot harder than I thought it would be but I have grown so much and still have a lot to go. One thing that really helped me was in zone meeting, something one of the assistants told us was that one of his companions always told him when he was down and sad about something. He always asked him "Does Christ still live?" "Is Christ still leading this church?" and he would say yeah. Well then what do you have to worry about. That is really true because we can’t make people change or accept this Gospel but all we can do is share it and let the spirit work on them. That is something I didn't understand until recently because I was getting down because all these people I knew where baptizing and I was wondering why wasn't I getting baptisms and I didn't figure it out until a week ago when Elder Persson was telling me that it's peoples decision and we can’t make them do anything and sometimes it’s not our fault at all that people don't get baptized but that they just aren’t ready.

  An awesome miracle happened earlier this week too when we were going to someone’s house that told us to come back and when we went there he wasn't there -- wait it gets better. While we were walking back to our car a lady came out of her house to talk to us and she was telling us how she was being taught by the missionaries in Edmonton but she moved down here and her new boyfriend is kind of Anti Mormon. She was telling us how she wanted to make a change in her life and it was awesome. She invited us to come back so we will be meeting her hopefully this week. That just showed me that if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing and where you are supposed to be God will bless you for your efforts. Well, have a good week and the next time you hear from me I might be somewhere else.

Love Elder Slack

Normal and different at the same time

       Well this week has been pretty, um, I don't know what this week has been like. It has been kind of normal and different at the same time. One of the things that I really love about the Kamloops 2nd ward is they feed us a ton! I know that sounds selfish but honestly if it wasn't for member visits I probably would not get nearly as much healthy food because healthy food is expensive and in Canada everything is even more expensive than normal. We have some really cool members who feed us all the time and it is so nice!

        One of my favorite members is the Brooks Family who are a really old couple but they always give us a ton of food every month and they give us bacon!! which is Amazing!! When we go over there we always have really awesome lessons because Brother Brooks knows a ton and always teaches me something and probably more than we teach him.

        This week has been kind of different because we have been doing a ton of tracting, like 4 to 6 hours a day at least, because we don't have a lot of people to teach but we have found some really cool people that we will be going by to see this week. Our tripanionship has been going a lot better. At first me and Elder Persson did not get along very well but now we are getting on the same page and we are getting along a lot better than we were and we are seeing more success since that. Well, I have to go so, I hope everyone has a great week and that everyone stays warm because its cold here!

Love Elder Slack

"I've also become a chef in the last 4 months as you can see"

Study area (I don't see a picture of his mother anywhere...)

Will and Elder Tolman (apparently Elder Persson doesn't like his picture taken) 

Tracting in Chase

"I'm still an American"

"Even if what you had planned doesn't work out God will bless you"

Man This week has been Crazy!! P day was pretty normal but on Tuesday we drove to Merritt  to go on Exchange with Elder Walker and it reminded me of old times because Merritt didn't have a car so me and Elder Walker walked everywhere in Merritt but luckily Merritt is pretty small and not as big a Kamloops but it was still stinking cold so I was dying but it was really good we went and taught a potential investigator named Dan the Bearman and him and his roommate are stinking CRAZY!! Dan was telling us how we where put here by aliens and how the wise men where guided by a spaceship to Jesus and then his roommate went outside and cussed out a dog across the street and the weirdest thing is this is typical Merritt but it was really Awesome to because we set a baptismal date with one of their investigators so that was pretty sweet! then we had to get picked up the next day to go to District Meeting and then we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and I went with Elder Anderson to Vernon which was pretty Crazy because Elder Anderson just got to Vernon last Transfer so he doesn't know where anything is and we got lost and went to Salmon Arm which is luckily on a half hour away from Vernon and then all our our appointments fell through for the night and so we went tracting and we tracted into an Active member! Yeah an Active member and they invited is in so we had an unexpected member visit which was pretty Awesome! Even though it was kind of embarrassing because we should know where active members live but it was cool and Elder Anderson is way Awesome! Then the next day we went tracting and ran to a guy on the street named Shaun an talked to him for about 20 minutes and he told us have he is an alcoholic and was sober for 17 years and just started drinking again and was looking for a way to over come it and to get sober again. So we talked to him for a while and set up a return appointment and it was really sweet. It just shows that if you are doing what you are supposed to be doing  and even if what you had planned doesn't work out God will bless you if you just keep doing what your supposed to do. After we exchanged back on Thursday we weekly planned and had correlation meeting and talked about an open house that we will be doing in February just as something to get non members to come to the church and see what it is about. Then on Friday we pretty much just tracted the whole day and apparently we tracted some where the JW's just tracted because people where not happy with us. I knocked on one door and the guy threatened to call the police on us for trespassing so it was pretty interesting but then we went to sister Collingridges house for dinner and it was so good but then we had a really Awesome lesson about the Book of Mormanand how important it is in our lives and how important it is to continually receive a personal witness that it is true. It was a really good lesson and the spirit was so strong it just felt Awesome! Nothing to interesting happened the rest of the week except on Sunday our plans fell through after church until dinner so we went tracting and we found 6 people who invited us to come back and we could tell them more. So that was just another testimony builder that if we just keep doing what we are supposed to be doing even if things don't work out how we wanted them to God will bless us and will help us over come what ever is placed in front of us, 1 Nephi 3:7. Hope Everyone has a great week.

Love Elder Slack

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!!!