Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas so much. This week we have seen so many Christmas Miracles. :) 

I am so excited to talk with the family! Oh my goodness! I love you all! 

I know that just over 2000 years ago a Savior was Born. Last night we were doing a free hot chocolate stand! We sang carols and tried tracking people down so we could get people to come and watch the Christmas video. We bumped into a super cool man names J. He told us how he was sturggling with his faith. We told him about modern day prophets and how they give us direction in our life, we promised him that the message we share would take those struggles away because Jesus Christ was born. He agreed to meeting and told us that he knows what we are sharing will help him. We have an appointment with him! I can not wait to tell y'all about it! :)

My favorite Christmas song is Away in a Manger especially with the verse in the second verse. "I love thee Lord Jesus." I love him with all my heart! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

It's almost Christmas!

This week was so great! I am just going to write a short email and send a lot of pictures!

I know that every area in our mission can baptize every transfer. This is the Standard that President Clayton has received from the Lord and because of that I know that it can happen. Sister J and I whitewashed into this new area with no one to work with so we immediate had to start to exercise our faith and invite everyone to come unto Christ. We got lost pretty much every day because neither of us have served in the city and we are still getting used to the buses but we are so grateful for every time we get lost because we get to talk with so many more people. :) One of those people we talked to on the bus is D. D immediately accepted to learn more about our message! We had an appointment with him at 4:00 p.m. at a Tim Hortons but we ended up getting lost and D waited for two hours and actually helped us find our way to where he was. When we met with him we shared the Christmas video #aSaviorisBorn, and he loved it. We invited him to be baptized on the last day of the transfer which is Daddy's birthday, and he said yes. Yesterday he came to church and we taught him the Restoration. :) He had a couple questions for us and we were able to lead him to the scriptures where he found his answers. He also found out why baptism is important and last night he sent us a text saying. "I understand baptism now. And I am so excited to be baptized." 

I am so excited for D and the other people that we are working with as well. 

This transfer I am able to do a few new things. Some of those are teaching ESL and going on exchanges. I have this funny thing that  the Sisters I exchange with do with me. What we do is we read 3 Nephi 5:13 very loudly off of the balcony or a really high building adding some words... this is what it would read for me. "Behold I Sister C, am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the son of God, I have been called to declare his word among the people in Ontario..."and so on. Haha it is a hoot and a half and I wish I could send the videos home. :) 

I love you all. I pray for you all. :)

TORONTO!

Well, it is official everybody, I am in love with the city of Toronto. 

Sister J is such an amazing companion. I love her so much. We have alot of fun together. She is from Alberta. She has been on her mission for 14 months. Something that is cool is that she served in Milton right before I did! She is the kindest sweetest person you will ever meet. She talks like a Canadian and I talk like an American so it leads to lots of laughing fits as we go to bed. Something that I learned from her this week is how to better listen to people and discern what they need to know. She is really good at making people feel comfortable and happy as she talks with them on the bus. It has been so fun to learn how to better bus contact with her. This is her first time in a bus area and she is killing it! It is so fun. Her parents are currently living Manila which is in the Philippines. She lived there for 6 weeks before she came to the CTM! She is celestial.

We whitewashed into our area! I think that President Clayton just likes to whitewash me into areas, ahaha I have never just moved into a new area. :) The apartment was last used by Elders. As we were busing  there the Don Mills East sisters told us that our apartment had bed bugs....and that the Elders got bites....So, naturally we were both freaking out. We got there and we opened the door and we had no furniture, we walked into the back room and our beds were taped, with scotch tape, and it was just a little sketchy. That night we were deciding if we wanted to sleep in those beds and we just decided to be brave and do it. As we were getting into bed Sister J said...."I love you, Goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite..." We immediately got so quiet and just busted into laughter. We understand that phrase now. Mom, I know that while you have been reading this you have been freaking out.. Don't worry we don't have bed bugs. We got rid of those mattresses and got a new couch. Neither of us have bites so we are okay. Porter, I know that you were probably thinking about a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide detector, we have them and they both work. We also have three locks on our doors, so we are safe. :) 

Sister J

a picture of the fort Sister Jensen and I made. :) 

This year the Christmas initiative is so inspired,they always are inspired but I really like this one. Something that we have been trying to do is to sing Christmas songs on the Subway,buses, and street cars. We get so many happy smiles and it is always a great opportunity to share the Christmas card with people. I love Christmas! We had one time we were singing on the street car (that I call a trolley because it is makes it sound more fun), and this woman turns around and just smiles and closes her eyes. As we were getting off she came and she talked with us and told us how we made her day. She didn't want to learn more but it was a cool to be able to have her feel the spirit of Christ. 

These last nine months have gone by way to fast!! I cannot believe that I have hit my halfway mark. I just wanted to share with you all nine things that I have learned on my mission. 

1. We need to do things the Lords way and not our own way. When you are with someone 24/7 you are bound to not agree on certain things. Something that is important is to pray and ask the Lord what he would have us do. When you are with someone whether you are dating, married, companions, family, or even co-workers, it does not matter who is right or who is wrong because I would guess 99% of the time you are both wrong. Ha the Lord will always be right....Choose the Right=Choose the Lord.
2. Kindness.
3. I love my family so much. I, like Nephi, "have been born of goodly parents". Unlike Nephi, I have siblings who love the Lord and love me.
4. I really like pie and ice cream.
5. There is no substitute for obedience and diligence.
6. Mission Presidents are inspired. Elder Perkins told us that he is convinced that a missionary is not assigned to a specific mission but to a mission president. I know that that is true. President and Sister Clayton are wonderful people. I can not begin to describe the love I have for them.
7. The Restoration actually happened!
8. I really like talking with people.
9. Everyone needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are in a bus area! WOOOOO!!! BUS!!! AREA!!!!!!!!!! I love the buses, you get to trap people on them. :) I rode a subway for the first time in my life the other day. I keep telling  Sister J that serving in Toronto is the best Christmas present I could ever get. :) When new missionaries come out on their mission they are so excited and everything is magical and new to them. That is totally me this transfer. :) A lady this morning in the elevator was telling us that we were far to energetic for 6:30 am. We just smiled and laughed. Sister J and I are constantly chasing down buses. Then we get on the bus out of breath and everyone on the bus gets a good chuckle out of two girls in skirts running down a bus, it makes it easier for us to talk to them. Because we are running and walking so much, I may lose weight this transfer. Haha who knows! The holidays are here! :) 

I will let you all know my new address when I know my new address. :) I love you! 

Transfer News

This was a fun and busy week! We had zone council, exchanges, the temple trip, and transfers!!! 

First of all, transfer news! I am going to Toronto!! I am so excited I have wanted to serve there since I got here! I am going to be companions with Sister J. Sister M will be going to St. Catharines with Sister B and Sister C. :) They will have a party. I was telling Sister M last night that I am slightly envious of her. I love St. Catharines! Sister M does not have any word on her visa yet. Keep her in your prayers.

I got to go to the Temple! I love the Toronto temple. It is so beautiful. I am so lucky to have been able to go so many times on my mission. The mission has a temple trip every six months right before conference, and only people living within two hours get to go. President Clayton started allowing new missionaries to go to the temple after their first six weeks as a missionary, so I have been able to go with Sister B and Sister C. Heavenly Father is so kind. Temples allow us to make covenants with Heavenly Father, and when we keep our covenants we are blessed. Go to the temple everyone! GO! 

Exchanges were really fun. I was with Sister J again. :) We were able to find a new investigator for her area. His name is R. It was a really really cold and rainy day and we didn't have many appointments so we just went out and tracted. We knocked on his door and asked if we could teach him about the Restoration. He allowed us to come in and while we were standing in his doorstep we taught him the entire Restoration! It was wonderful. We asked him if he would be baptized and he said yes, but that he wanted to search the scriptures first. We gave him The Book of Mormon and invited him to read 2ND Nephi 31, and then to pray and ask Heavenly Father if it was true. He said he would and we set up another time to meet with him. All of this took place in about 15 minutes. It was incredible! I haven't been able to invite very many people to be baptized this last transfer so it felt so good to extend that invitation. I LOVE BAPTISM!! WOOO!! 

​This week one of our investigators wife had a baby girl. :) He always feels the spirit, so it was really good for him to have this baby. His wife is a member and really wants him to be baptized but won't make him. We went to visit them in the Hospital and I'll tell you what I was such an emotional wreck! The spirit was so strong in that little hospital room. As I was looking at their new baby girl I was just fighting back tears. It was such a beautiful moment. Babies are wonderful. :) M, the mom, was teasing me saying that I am going to have a million little mormon babies. She came to the conclusion that I will be the perfect mormon mom. I just laughed and thought about how wonderful my mom is. :) Thanks for having me mom! 

Zone Council is always fun! Sister D and I gave an instruction on planning. :) ​Planning easily has been one of my favorite parts of being a missionary. I think that it was the only thing that I actually felt like I could do so I have loved it ever since. I found a really cool scripture talking about revelation. It is in D&C 42:61. It is my ponderizing scripture for the week. 

Well everyone, it's been real. But, we have to go and baptize people. :) Everyone check out christmas.mormon.org, and find out how you can share #aSaviorIsBorn this year. :) You will hear a lot about that  this next month! YAY! Christmas! :) 🎄🎄🎄