January 4

Wow! This was such a wonderful week as usual! 

Tuesday: We taught ESL! it was so fun. I love ESL. 

Wednesday: We taught D and A the Restoration! They loved it, they accepted our invitations to read and pray and invited us back again! I love teaching them! 

Thursday: New Years Eve as a missionary is a really strange thing! We taught a couple lessons before we had to be in and planning. All of the sisters in our zone decided that they wanted to stay the night at our apartment so we had a crazy night of giggles and food.

Friday: One of our Returning Members brought a friend to our lesson with him. What he said when we got there was..."A wants to be a mormon." Haha so we taught the Restoration! 

Saturday:We had a crazy busy day. We spent a lot of time on the phone.  But we were able to see a lot of miracles that day! 

Sunday: Brother M passed his baptismal interview! happy happy day! 

Sorry this email is so lame! We saw many miracles! This week our district (three companionship's of sisters and the district leader and his companion) taught 29 other lessons, found 16 new investigators, and had 9 investigators come to church with us! It was wonderful! 

So many great things happened. I love you all! Happy 2016! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!!!! 

December 29

Hello!!!

So funny story real quick. As we were talking on Christmas I invited you all to study the Word of Wisdom! Last night, Sister J and I were at a dinner appointment with an amazing Hungarian family. The fed us the best food! After we shared our message the Mom went to her closet and pulled out a beautiful red square box of chocolate. She told us that some of her students gave her them for Christmas. The chocolates looked so fancy!! Sister J and I took one and bit into it. Immediate my mouth and my throat started to burn. I thought, "Man, this filling is really gross! What should I do, I can't spit it out they will feel bad." So I just swallowed it. The Dad, took one as well and looked down with wide eyes and said in an amazing Hungarian accent, "This is alcohol." He calmly told everyone and the mom snatched the box away. The first time I tried alcohol in my life was on my mission!!!  Haha I just  taught someone the Word of Wisdom this last week! Last night as I was praying I chuckled to myself and repented. I do not like alcohol, it tastes terrible. 

Besides breaking a commandment, yesterday was really cool! 

We dropped by an LA member yesterday and when they weren't home we decided to contact fifteen people around that area. As we were walking up to a door Sister J and I were being our usual goofy selves. I was walking around like a four-year-old throwing a fit and she was videoing me doing it. As we walked up to a door to knock I was still being super silly. As soon as Sister J shut off her camera the door opened. D told us that she had a Book of Mormon but was content with her own religion. We talked for a bit and then left. As we were walking down the driveway, I was holding onto Sister J's foot trying to warm it up because she has holes in her boots, D opened the door and asked us if we would like some tea. We both looked at each other, and agreed! We went inside and while D was making us some herbal tea we talked with her son A. They are both Seventh Day Adventist of about ten years and have such a strong faith in Jesus Christ. As we sipped on our tea D told us how she met with Mormons before she joined her church. She told us she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. We shared the Restoration with them both. A was fixed on the picture of the first vision and both of them felt the spirit as we testified of the Restored gospel. We taught about the Book of Mormon and invited them both to pray and ask Heavenly Father if what we shared was true. They invited us to come back on Wednesday. As we left D said a beautiful prayer asking if the Book of Mormon was true. As we left the house we both looked at each other amazed with the goodness of our Heavenly Father. We offered a prayer of gratitude on the side of the road. 

Sunday at church we got a call from a random number, we answered and talked with a little  girl telling us that her mom and her wanted us to come visit them! We gladly accepted the invitation and later that night we walked over to their apartment. As we were there we talked with the mom H. She joined the church about 6 years ago and isn't able to come because she married a Muslim man who won't let her come. For awhile she would sneak to church but she didn't like to be dishonest. She told us that she wants to be at church and she wants her sweet daughter to be raised in the church. We talked about the love of God with her and set up another time to come and visit. As we left that night we were again amazed with the goodness of our Father in Heaven. I have seen so many miracles as a missionary and I know that all of them come from being an obedient faith-filled missionary. 

This last Wednesday we went to Dundas Square as a zone and Christmas caroled. Dundas Square is like a mini times square. :) There were so many fun wonderful people. We invited everyone to sing along, and sometimes people did! A lot of people videoed and took pictures. We told them all to share it using the #asaviorisborn! It was a wonderful time. After that we hopped on the subway and headed back to our apartment. After we contacted everyone on the subway we decided we were role play the Restoration with each other (who knows someone could have been listening). We have a walkway from the subway station to our apartment, and as we were walking back we ran into a girl named I. We talked with her a couple days back about the video on Christs birth. She and her family watched it and loved it. We asked her if we could share something with her that has changed our life, when then went on and taught the Restoration. She accepted all of it and was so excited to read the Book of Mormon. The conversation we had with her was almost identical to the role play on the subway! 

Last night we had our first winter storm. Let me tell you, it is cold in Canada! We were trudging back from our commandment breaking appointment and our skirts were flying up because of the wind, our shoes were soaking wet, and we were smiling and excited because we LOVE sharing the gospel. Also because I got some really warm clothes for Christmas. Thank you. :) 

I love you all. I hope you all have a wonderful day. :) 

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! :) 🎄🎄🎄

Yelled at 3 times, Elder Perkins, and the work of salvation.

This was a fun week! We were only yelled at three times this week on the bus. :) One time the bus driver came back and personally  told me that he would kick me off if I talked with people. I was so upset because we still had fifteen minutes to be on the bus and so many people could have heard the gospel, but oh well, when we got on the next bus we were able to talk to even more people. :) 

*Just so you all know. When I share these stories on the bus, the reason I saw "I" is because I am talking with different people on the bus than Sister M. I got to thinking last week and I just felt so terrible from saying I. I am so grateful for Sister M and everything we do we do as a companionship. I am nothing without her. :) so, there you go.

One night Sister M and I had just got done at a dinner appointment and we had just enough time to bus home so we would get home on time. I went to the back of the bus and sat down by this younger looking girl, she looked like she would be YSA age. We started talking and I asked her if she had ever talked with missionaries, she said that she had just they were two boys and that she wasn't really interested in what we had to share. I told her that was okay and I continued to talk with her. We talked about her school and family. She wanted to be a nurse but decided that it was boring and she chose to be a welder, people have been trying to convince her not to but she knows thats what she should be doing. I encouraged her and told her that if she feels good about it, God will help her. After talking for about ten minutes she asked me what was different about our church and other christian churches. This was wonderful! I was so excited that she asked. I started from the beginning talking about how God loves us and how he send prophets to us to direct us, that people who follow prophets are blessed and when they don't they don't recieve those blessings. We talked about Christ and his priesthood authority and how after his death it was taken from the earth causing us to be in the great apostasy. As I was sharing the first vision with her she was fixated on me. Her entire body language and her spirit was different. She changed as I told her that god speaks with his children and that the priesthood is on the earth. I told her that all of this can be proven to her through the Book of Mormon. I asked her if she would like one and very very quietly she said. "I really really want one." She found comfort in the Restoration of the Gospel. As we got off the bus she thanked me and was excited for us to bring her a Book of Mormon and to teach her more. As we went home that night I kept thinking about what had just happened. I have taught the Restoration so many times before, but the feeling I felt as I taught Jordan is nothing that I could ever try to describe. As I described the first vision, I felt in a very real sense I was there. And that I indeed saw that pillar of light, but not only did I feel as though I saw it, I felt the merciful love of my Heavenly Father and of my savior Jesus Christ. 

Earlier that night we found two families going to the Santa Claus parade. They too found peace in the Restored gospel and gladly accepted our invitation to learn more. :) I am never going to drive another car again. I know that as I open my mouth at all times the Lord will place people in my paths. 

​Elder Perkins came to our mission! The mission tour was wonderful! I was lucky enough to have had time to be interviewed by him one on one. I am such a lucky person! He asked me all about our family and about my mission. I told him about E, a very very special person to me. :) He loved her just as much as I do. We talked about his mission and he asked me what I thought he should teach that day in the conference. I was caught off guard but almost instantaneously my mouth was opened and I proceded to tell him about a chapter in preach my gospel. As we were in the conference that day and he instructed on what the spirit had prompted me to  tell him I felt the sweet assurance from the spirit that I was the one that he needed to instruct. Heavenly Father speaks with us. I know he does.

Yesterday the Montreal Temple was rededicated, and I was able to attend! yay for temples! :) Sister M was very excited and I was excited with her. 

Do any of you remember P? She was my spanish investigator from St. Catharines? SHE WAS BAPTIZED!!! HAPPY DAY! With the people I am working with right now. Sister D: she is from Haiti and she speaks almost no English, luckily Sister M is a stallion and she knows french and the Restoration and was able to teach the entire lesson on her own. The gift of tongues is real everybody. :) She invited her to be baptized on December 11th and she said that she would! Her family are members and they all would love to be sealed together as a family. They have the cutest little kids ever. I die everytime I go over there. :) Ms: a wonderful family we are working with. They want to go back to the temple and be active members. I just love them all so much. S; So, she can not read but is doing a mighty fine job at learning. We go and read with her so she can read the Book of Mormon. :) We are working with some other people but I don't want to overload you all.

Well, this week was good. I love the Lord!!!  ​Eat lots of Turkey and Stuffing this week! But don't forget to eat lots of pumpkin and apple pie! I love pie it has become my favorite treat. :)