I finally got to Kelowna and it has been great!

This week has been really crazy. To start off with transfers and on Monday Elder Hunter and I had to pack and clean the whole apartment because two new Elders were coming in that week and then we had to write what felt like a thousand notes so that they knew what was going on in the area with our investigators and all the info about the area so that they could pick up right where we left off. So Monday was really hectic, then we were told that we needed to stay with the Abby 1st Elders on Monday night so that Elder Hunter could leave with Elder Evans, who is in Abby 1st, early in the morning and catch their flights at the Airport in Vancouver and some Elders from Chiliwack were staying the night at the same place so needless to say we did not sleep very good that night. Then Elder Hunter had to leave at 5am so he got up at 4:15 and him and Elder Evans were not the quietest people so they woke everyone up but once they left it was all normal until 10 then Elder Sharp, one of the Elders in Chiliwack, and I had to drive to Vancouver airport to go pick up some other missionaries and we had no idea where we were going and we ended up at a private airport in Vancouver but eventually we found it and it turned out that the Elders flight was delayed for almost an hour so we were waiting there for a while then they finally got in and we had to drive them back to the Mission Office and we were supposed to stay there until some other missionaries came and picked us up to take us back to the Airport but while we were there President Burt showed up and told Elder Sharp that he should go get a hair cut so we had to go get Elder Sharp a haircut and then finally we got picked up at 3:30 and got to airport but I had to wait for 3 hours at the airport by myself until my flight at 6:30 and then my flight was delayed until 6:50 so I did not get to Kelowna until 8:15 so it was a pretty crazy day. 

  Then finally I got to Kelowna and it has been great! The weather here has been awesome. So hopefully I do not have to see much more rain for the rest of my mission. We had some really good lessons this week with some recent converts and some less actives that are coming back to church. We have also had a lot of investigators tell us that they do not want to meet with us anymore so it has been a really interesting week with a lot of trials and it has been kind of hard but I was studying this morning and I was going to look up something in the topical guide and I came across refine and refinement and so I read the scriptures and most of them were on how the Lord refines us for good and everything that he does is for our good. I came across the story of Alma the older and his people in Mosiah 24 and how they were persecuted and they were told if they prayed out loud they would be killed and so they prayed in their hearts and it talks about how the Lord did not take their trials away but that he strengthened them to make their burdens light so that they were able to bear the trials that they were given and eventually God did remove them from their trials. It taught me a lot about how a lot of times God does not take challenges away but he will make them manageable as long as we rely on him because if we are not obedient to him and his commandments then he can not help us to make our burdens light but as we live the gospel and do what we are supposed to all the trials with be for our good because just like Nephi says the Lord gives no commandment save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them and it is the same for our trials too. As we trust in God he will help us and support us in everything that we do.

Love Elder Slack

{Nov 23, 2015} We have been doing a lot of knocking on doors and talking to people on the streets

So this week has been like the last 4 weeks pretty crazy and never what we plan or expect. We have been able to see a few people but one of our investigators Sheila formered her self because her son is on the run from the cops and she has a lot of family troubles right now so she decided to take a break for now so we have been doing a lot of knocking on doors and talking to people on the streets. 

  Yesterday we found some unique service. We where driving down a street when the car in front of us at a light put its hazards on and some one got out waving us by so we went by and pulled over and came back to help push this car so we pushed it through a red light, luckily no one hit us or it would have been a really bad day, and we had to push it up a hill to get to a side street and then run back to our car and go back to jump it. Needless to say it was a lot of work and dress pants and shoes are not ment for that but luckily we where able to help them out and they where really grateful for it. You know  Mosiah 2:17 must be true because when ever we get to help some out I feel really good and we get to help some of Gods children and maybe hopefully get to soften their hearts. This transfer has been really crazy and kind of hard but it has taught me a lot and has helped me grow as a person. I am so grateful for this experince that Ihave been able to have here in the great white north.Well I dont have too much time right now so I have to go

 

Love Elder Slack

{Aug 24} Did you say bed bugs?

     This week was great except for the fact that our apartment had bed bugs!! Yeah I said we had bed bugs. Apparently our apartment had that problem before and so we had to go to Willoughbys apartment for a day while they fumigated ours and it was good because I have gotten bitten like 100 times and Elder Mattingley never did so I guess they have favorites. 

      Besides that we were able to see Sheila and read the Book of Mormon with her and to help her learn the things that she already knew before and helping her rebuild her testimony and prepare her to get baptized! This week has been really good and we have been teaching more this week and have had some really good lessons with our investigators and mostly we have been reading the Book of Mormon with them so we can get them into that habit and because the Book of Mormon is the most powerful thing that we have to help people find the truth besides the spirit obviously. It has really helped the people that we are teaching to gain a testimony!

Sorry this one is really short but we have been really busy so see ya. 

Love Elder Slack

I'll send you some pictures next week

The Book of Mormon is so powerful and I have seen how it can change peoples lives

     Well this week was really good and very interesting, just like every other week in Surrey. We have been able to talk to a lot of people and we were able to see Sonny a few times this week and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and has had a lot of questions about it and about our beliefs. It was really good and he told us how he really likes to visit with us and how it really gives him a spiritual boost when we meet with him. He called us last night and told us some of the insights that he had while reading the Book of Mormon and studying the Plan of Salvation that we taught him yesterday and he told us how he was really grateful that we came and visited with him and are helping him come closer to God and to not give up on him. It was so cool to see how he has changed from the things that we have taught him and how grateful he is for it. The thing that really helped him was the Book of Mormon. When we first were meeting with him he was smoking and drinking but when we gave him the book of Mormon and he started reading & he has changed. He has not drank and he is working on quitting smoking.

  

      The Book of Mormon is so powerful and I have seen how it can change peoples lives and really does help everyone grow closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon also helps us overcome other things that we face in life like addiction and just trials that hit us in life with no fault of our own. How it does that is it helps us understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ better to know how we can overcome anything in this life and that is through Jesus Christ. Ultimately that is what the Book of Mormon is for, to testify of Christ and to help us gain a testimony of him and to also help us know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. 

     We also got to see Gus this week and we watched the movie On the Lords Errand. It's about Thomas S Monson and his life; because Gus wanted to know more about the current Prophet. The movie is so awesome and powerful. It shows how great of an example President Monson is of someone who devotes his life to the Lord. I love watching it because when I watch it the spirit testifies to me that Thomas S Monson is a Prophet of God and a follower of Christ. I am so grateful to be apart of this church and to have this Gospel in my life  and for the Book of Mormon and how it has changed me and helps me to become the Disciple that God needs and wants me to be.

Love Elder Slack