I wish I had more time sometimes!

Sister Wilson and I saw many many miracles this last week. 

The first miracle happened while I was on exchanges with a new missionary! Sister Holmstead has been out for four weeks now and she is a phenomenal missionary. I was blown away by her teaching skills. All of the sisters I exchange with teach me so much. She had never contacted on a bus or a subway before so I told her for the first little bit she could watch how I did it and then she could go and find what worked best for her. After watching me contact TWICE she went off and contacted so many people. One of the people she contacted was super interested in coming  to church. She waved me over to tell her where the church was and after talking for a little bit and finding out that she was getting off at the same stop as us we asked if we could teach her. We taught her the Restoration and invited her to be baptized! I was so grateful for Sister Holmstead and the example she is to always open her mouth. She is going to see so many miracles as she continues to do that.

The next miracle that we had was also from Sister Holmstead and I opening our mouth. The next day a man named H called and told us that he wanted to learn more about the church. We met with him twice this week and invited them to be baptized. They are from Nazareth and love Jesus Christ. It was super cool!

We had a district meeting this week on prayer. Sister Wilson and I were able to teach a really cool lesson to this man named M. A couple weeks ago we met him on the bus. Sister Jensen was getting screamed at by some man and I was talking with M. M thought it was cool that even though we get yelled at we still continue to teach. At the time M didn't have a phone and had no way of meeting with us. I gave him a card so he could call us when he had a phone and he DID!!!!! We taught him about prayer and it was exactly what he needed. We asked similar questions to the role play that we had in district meeting and left the same commitments. He is going to be baptized. 

I wish I had more time but I don't! There were many other miracles seen, and don't worry mom I have recorded all of them in my journal in detail. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Shout out to N who is participating  in the DYW program. I am so proud of you. I love you and I hope you know that no matter what I am so proud of you! You are in my prayers. 

An Update from Canada

"Jesus Christ died and lived for us again, follow him and find a new life." This Sunday the church will be putting out the new Easter Initiative! This was my favorite part of the video. I am so excited for you all to watch it and share it. I don't know if it is just because I am a missionary who is set apart to have the spirit or if I have just become an emotional person.. but I tear up every time I watch this video.

This week we met some really cool people on the streets of Toronto. One specific person keeps coming to my mind. We met this awesome man named L on the bus. As we were talking to him about our message he was really excited to learn more, just as he was walking away I called out to him and asked him what his religious background was and he said "Almost Christian". I am really excited to meet with him.

Sister Wilson and I are teaching this amazingly prepared woman named M. We were preparing to teach her about the plan of salvation and we just thought that she would have a lot of questions so while we were role playing we were asking hard questions to each other. When we went to follow up with her on her Book of Mormon reading she told us that she had been reading the testimonies and that nothing had really come to her telling her that it was true...BUT THEN she said that while she was reading the testimony of Joseph Smith she felt an amazing sense of peace and truth. She said that she feels like God is answering her that what we are teaching her is true. In my head I was thinking..."What. I don't know what to do now. She actually read and received an answer within seconds? They don't teach us what to do when people know that it is true!"  While I was thinking this her son called out for her from the backroom and when she went back there Sister Wilson and I both looked at each other with dropped jaws. It was so cool! When she came back she said a prayer to understand and accept all that we were going to teach her. As we taught her about the creation, fall of Adam and Eve, and our life on earth she told us while hugging the pamphlet, that she can relate so much to all of what we had taught her. She committed to read, pray, and come to church.

While on exchanges this last week with Sister Spencer we had a miracle happen. Sister Spencer is in her first 12 weeks so she gets to have an hour extra study time from a book called the First 12 weeks ( really fitting name eh?). While we were praying a thought came to my mind to use our training that day and go over and teach our neighbors about the Book of Mormon. Luckily that day in training we were focusing on how to use the Book of Mormon. Sister Spencer prayerfully selected a scripture and we role played going over to their house knocking on the door, and teaching them about the scripture. We did this three times and were finally ready to go over to their house. Just a side note on our neighbors. While Sister Jensen and I were companions we gave them some chocolates for Christmas. After that we continued to run into them, they would give us free calender's and we would give them gospel literature. They had read every single pamphlet and were even reading the Book of Mormon. But they never would allow us to go and share a message with them. Last transfer I had been praying to know when it would be a good time to go to them and teach them and I never received an answer so I knew it was not the right time. Knowing all of that, I can get back to the story. Sister Spencer and  I go over and say exactly what we had role played to them at the door and *BOOM* they invited us to come into their home to talk more. While we were in there we talked about the Book of Mormon and we set up an appointment to go back in two days. This experience strengthened my testimony in two ways. 

1. Prayers are always answered. I had been praying to know when they would be ready and I received an answer that it was not time yet. Sometimes when we pray we don't get the answer that we were looking for or expecting and I think that that discourages us. Do you think that Joseph Smith was expecting the answer that he received when he saw two heavenly beings appear to him? I would think that he wasn't! But what he was expecting was an answer. And from the answer that he received he acted. If there is anything that any of you have been praying for and you feel like you haven't received an answer, KEEP PRAYING.  "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find;  knock, and it shall be opened unto you". 

2. Every person on earth can receive revelation. Sister Spencer and I felt inspired to go and do a very specific thing, using a very specific scripture, at a very specific time and place. I'm here to tell you that there is absolutely no way that I could do that without the guidance of the spirit. It is so important that we always remain worthy of the companionship of the holy ghost. Each week we go to church and while there we partake of the sacrament which renews a promise that we will always have "his spirit to be with us". As we take the sacrament seriously, we will be able to feel his spirit in our life. And not only will we feel his spirit but we will be guided by his spirit so we can bless his other children. 

M came to church and her cute children M and Z came to church! She asked great questions and felt the spirit so strongly. :)

Well, I could go on and on about this week. We were able to see so many miracles. There were lots of little and big miracles! I know that I get to see these miracles because of Jesus Christ. I know that he is my savior and just as I quoted before, "Jesus Christ dies and lived for us again, follow him and find a new life." I have found my life in Christ. I want to invite all of you to find your life in him as well. Have him be the center of all aspects of life. Think about the media you enjoy, focus that media on Christ. Think of the friends you have, do they help you focus your life on Christ? Remember Christ. Helaman 5:12

A Week Filled With Miracles

This week was filled with so many miracles.

We are teaching this super amazing woman named E. We taught her the Restoration and she told us that she felt goose bumps. We invited her to be baptized and she said that she would! We invited her to read, pray, and come to church. She told us that she has been praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true and just hasn't received and answer quite yet. We promised her that is she would continue she would know that it is true. She accepted and guess what everybody?! She is keeping her commitments! She is going to be baptized soon I just know it. After working around her house for a little bit we got to a bus stop. School had just got out so there were around 40 young girls leaving the Catholic school. As we all were at the bus stop I turned to Sister Wilson and said, "We are going to teach all of these girls the Restoration." She looked at me like I was crazy but did it anyway! We had a blast teaching them all and several of them were really interested in the message we shared. They took our cards and while we were on the bus we saw some of them looking at the website. :) I love being a missionary. 

We had a lot of dinner appointments this week. All of the families that we eat with are persistent in having us have not just seconds but thirds every time we go over to their house. I was so full. By the end of the week I had to pull out my fat skirt so I could still feel semi good. Don't you worry mom! I have been jump roping away. :) The best part about the dinner appointments we had was that in every single one we received referrals. Just last night we were at a members house and after teaching the Restoration and asking them who the spirit brought to their mind, they told us that their niece was finally give permission to listen to the missionary discussions. They set goals and made a plan to have her over to the house to be taught. This just didn't happen last night but it happened several times this week. I am so grateful for faithful members who try to share the gospel. Remember, success comes in the invite. 

Brother M is still doing great. He is preparing to go to the temple to do proxy confirmations. :) The members are going to be picking him up, taking him there, and then bringing him home. The ward council is so great here. They have just stepped up and are willing to help him. I love the Don Mills ward. Brother M was given an assignment a couple weeks back to organize a bowling activity for the Elders Quorum. He was so excited and got a super cheap price. The ward was really impressed with how he fulfilled his assignment and told him that they would give him even more. :) I'm so proud of him. 

This week I got a new companion. Sister Wilson is a champ. She and I together contact 200+ people every single day and I am pretty sure that 150 of those are her. She just knows how to get it done. While she was on the bus she talked to a woman named U. She loved the Restoration and was super excited to come to church. She hadn't been answering our calls so we were kind of bummed thinking that she would not come to church. BUT WAIT! We stepped out of ward council to call her and she answered. She told us that she had not been feeling well but that she would come. We waited for her to come to sacrament meeting but she never came. Then we got a call from her that she was downstairs. We rushed down the stairs and found her. Not only did U come but she brought her entire family as well. We gave them a tour of the church and they decided to sit in on the YSA branch sacrament meeting. Side note...The YSA in Toronto are so awesome they saw new faces and all of them came running to introduce themselves. GO RETURNED MISSIONARIES!!! Anyways, they loved sacrament and committed to coming to church. 

M. Is. Incredible. Sister Jensen and I met her a little over a week ago and got her contact info. She has been through so much in her life. Including being addicted to pretty much everything. Sister Wilson and I got a hold of her and set up an appointment to meet with her. She offered us tea and muffins. :) While we were there we taught her about the Restoration. She said that she felt so much peace while we were talking and has experience similar feelings of light in her life. She used to be Atheist but came to know that God was real when she was put into a life or death situation where she received an answer to her first prayer. We invited her to be baptized on March 26th, and invited her to CPR. She happily accepted all of the commitments and was over joyed when she found out about the Primary program for her two children. She couldn't come to church this week but will be attending next week. I am so excited to be visiting with her. When we asked when we could come back she asked how often we come back. She thought that we were going to say two weeks and was super surprised when we said two or three times a week. But, hey she said yes and loved the idea of 15-20 minute lessons. 

In ward council we have been watching training videos on the Sabbath Day. I was thinking about my Sabbath day observance I have had over my life time and obviously found serious faults. But as I was thinking about how I could be better I thought about family councils. As a missionary we have companionship inventory every week. We talk about strengths and opportunities we have personally and as a companionship and we set goals to achieve them. Family councils are the same way.I love the idea of having a weekly family council on Sunday. I was writing in my journal last night about all of the ideas and thoughts I had and I wrote, "If we take a vacation from the Sabbath,  the spirit will take a vacation from us." The purpose of church is to partake of the Sacrament, which allows  us to renew our baptism covenant so we may "always have his spirit to be with us." I am grateful for the Sabbath day. I am grateful for the resources lds.org has given us to help us make it a delight. I want to invite you all to refelct on your Sabbath Day observance and to use the concept of "good, better, best." Make the Sabbath good then better then the best. 

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!

An Update from Canada

I feel like I just emailed you yesterday! This week just flew on by.

​Transfers have come! I have loved to serve with Sister Jensen. She is my best friend and I just love her so much. She is going to be serving in a really small area named Simcoe with two other missionaries who are pretty young. One starting her second and one starting her fifth! She is going to love it. I really am sad that I won't be with her...but! I will see her again in a couple months! My new companion is Sister Wilson. She came out with Sister Bell. Right before I left to go to the MTC I had a girl message me on Facebook telling me she was going to go to the CTM as well. She asked me some questions and me not really paying attention I forgot to email her back. When I was called to train I remembered that this sister was going to be coming out and I thought for sure I was going to train her. But then I trained Sister Bell, who is wonderful. Now Sister Wilson will be coming and joining me! I love Toronto and I never want to leave!

I just have one story for today. The other day Sister Jensen and I were heading back from an appointment. We were walking towards the nearest subway station and were talking with everyone along the way. The man that we were talking with wasn't interested in learning more about our message. We asked him if he knew anyone that would like to learn more about Jesus Christ and all of a sudden we hear an enthusiastic "ME!" shouted from somewhere. I looked up, down, left and right trying to find this marvelous being who wanted to learn more. Then I saw her... "Y". We walked over to her laughing and smiling at her excitement to hear our message. She said,
 "What can I do for you, or what can you do for me seeing as how I already know God."​ I said, "Have you ever heard about the RESTORED Gospel of Jesus Christ?"  She said no so we started to teach her about the Restoration. She was super cool! As we walked away we just laughed and laughed. Toronto is the best.

Sorry for the short email! I have lots of pictures I need to transfer to some sisters. I love you all!

Many are Called but Few are Frozen

Yes everybody! Canada is super cold. Did you all know that your nose hairs freeze? Haha I didn't until this week! But I survived! Last night I was even walking around with my normal boots. This morning however we woke up to lots of snow! :) I love Canada alot.

This will be a pretty short email!
Brother M is still doing wonderful! We have been meeting with him and his mom for about six weeks and this last week Mama S decided to no longer investigate the church. We went over and were going to teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we got in there it was really smokey and she just looked so sad. We sat down and talked and she told us that she was not ready to be baptized because she could not give up her smoking and coffee. She had tried to quite cold turkey and almost killed herself. We were so sad, we told her we loved her and went over the 12 steps to recovery book with her again so she would follow the guidelines correctly. As we were leaving she said the prayer and apologized to Heavenly Father for not being willing to give up her addictions for him. Mama S will be baptized someday. :) Brother M was super supportive about it all. He actually has been stronger since his mom stopped.

I love when members of the church actively fulfil callings. Last night we got a call from a new member telling us that his home teachers just left from giving him a blessing. They had heard he had been having a hard time and when he didn't answer his phone they decided to just go by. It is amazing when people love the people whom they serve, it changed his night.

Exchanges were super fun! We saw many miracles. I was with Sister Womack in Ajax. She is in her last week of her mission! We got to teach an investigator her final lesson before her baptism interview. The power and love that Sister Womack displayed was indescribable. After the lesson her investigator was interviewed and passed the interview and will be getting baptized! It was a great day. I also exchanged with Sister Wheldon! She came to my area and we had such a good day. We were able to teach several lessons! Sister Wheldon is from Texas and LOVES Texas. Haha she always says, "My loyalty is first to Texas, then to the USA." So... this is super happy everybody. Sister Dayton and I were companions in my second transfer as a missionary. She and I got to go on an exchange yesterday! I learned so much from her. Something that I loved about the exchange was our prayers. Every prayer we said we asked Heavenly Father to help us find people that day who would be baptized. As we went out we saw miracles. We found so many sweet potentials who were so ready to hear the gospel. Prayer works everybody! :)

This Sunday Sister Jensen and I were  trying to find a member to go and visit and we had a hilarious but awesome experience. We were sitting at the table calling people and I told Sister Jensen that we were both going to receive revelation about who to call and that the people that came to our mind would be the same. Sister Jensen looked at me and asked who I was thinking of and I responded, "The A's" She then burst into laughter and told me that she had been thinking the exact same person. It is a silly story but it happens all of the time. We watch the PMG planning videos every morning and one of them talks about how when we pray and ask for guidance we will be able to receive answers. I am so grateful for Sister Jensen. She is a consecrated obedient missionary and because of that we are able to receive inspiration as a companionship for our area. :)

Well, there was many other things that happened but I can't just type my day away! I love you all. :) 

Miracle Week!

This week we saw so many miracles!

Miracle on Monday: As we got done with preparation day we were in the elevator going to an appointment and this man asked us if we were JW's. We told him that we weren't and that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He told us that he loves to learn about religion and asked us if we could come teach him about our church. Sister Jensen and I have been praying so hard that we would find more people to teach. This was such a blessing for us. As we walked out of the door we ran into our neighbors. On New Years Eve they brought us a gift and since that time we have ran into them several times. We gave them some of the missionary pamphlets. As we were talking to them outside they told us that they have been reading all of the pamphlets and that they love them. They even mentioned the blessings and miracles they have seen in their life since they started praying correctly. The topic of coffee came up and we told them that we would bring them a word of wisdom pamphlet. They were super excited! As we were walking away from those fifteen minutes of miracles Sister Jensen and I looked at each other slightly confused but smiling ear to ear. The rest of the night was equally as amazing. 

Miracle on Tuesday: Tuesday I was on exchanges with Sister Bott. She is a sister training leader in Oshawa! She and I were both trained by Sister Dayton, and because of that we kept reminding each other of Sister Dayton. We laughed all day and taught many many lessons. Tuesday night we had a lesson with a potential investigator named E. He was a former investigator we found a couple days back and we dropped by and said we could come back Tuesday night. We brought the Relief Society President with us. She is super cool. She is from the Philippines and converted from Catholicism around thirty years ago. As we taught the Restoration she bore a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon and prayer. With out Sister S we would not have been able to solidly invite him to read and pray. Eric had his questions answered by her. Bringing members to our lessons really is key. The people we teach can not progress with out the fellowship of the members. This week with your spare time, call the missionaries and go teach with them. 

Miracle on Wednesday: This day we had  MLC! Sister Bell just said it best to me in an email.." mlc was so great. i don't think i have ever felt the spirit that strong for that long of a time in my whole life. i love it. i love president Clayton. he seriously is the best. i just love everything!" Amen to that Sister Bell. :) While we were in this meeting we discussed the misson culture of the Canada Toronto Mission. After the discussion we concluded with three things that make up the culture of the CTM. 

1. We Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts. https://www.lds.org/church/news/focus-on-the-doctrine-of-christ-elder-andersen-tells-missionaries-worldwide?lang=eng

2. We are a PMG mission

3. We are consecrated disciples of Jesus Christ (one of my all time favorite scriptures 3 Nephi 5:13) 

I know that these three things is what makes up the missionaries in the CTM. This is a great mission. The reason this is a miracle is because it has shaped this mission. In the last month as we all have been fasting and praying about what our Mission Culture is, this is what we have become. We understand that we are called here to teach repentance and to baptize true converts every transfer, PMG is the way of accomplishing it, and as we have that focus we become consecrated disciples of Jesus Christ. This mission is best mission in the world, ask President Monson. 

Miracle on Thursday: This was such a happy day for me. I was in Bayview South which is a Mandarin speaking area. I learned so much from the wonderful sister I was with. She is a convert and is one of two members in her entire family. She had a solid testimony of the role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. She taught me that we have to listen, love, and testify of Christ for the spirit to teach. It was evident in her teaching that she is a master at this. I couldn't understand much of what was going on in the lessons. But as I watched the eyes and body language of the people she taught you could tell that the spirit was teaching them. Sister Deng is also still in her training. This was her first time alone in her area and she killed it! She taught me how to say "I know what my companion said is true." and "I love you." In Chinese. :) 

Miracle of Friday: Porter....I had to see a python....it was a pet of a house we had dinner at. It was super scary. In the white hand book it says that we always need to be in sight and sound of our companions....well that rule was really hard when my companion was holding a snake around her neck! Anyways, after the snake was put away we had a lovely dinner with the Howard family. He is a LA member and she is a non-member. We asked them how religion has played a role in their lives and after listening to so many wonderful stories we testified to them of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They told us that they wanted to learn more, and invited us over again for dinner this week. They were amazing.

Miracle of Saturday: Wow.. This day was incredible. We taught ESL, found three investigators, contacted three referrals, received two referrals and had many many lessons. One of the lessons we taught was with Roger! He was the man that we ran into in the elevator that asked us to come over and teach him. While we were there we asked if anyone else in the home would like to join us. He then called K and Ke his sons to come and here the good news. We taught the Restoration simply but powerfully and testified that God answers all prayers asked with a sincere heart. Sister Soutar also came to this lesson and even more powerfully and boldly testified of Jesus Christs church. It was amazing. We invited them all to be baptized and they said yes. Then at the end of the lesson he told us that he wanted this wife and a friend of his to come to the next lesson. I have always wanted to help a family progress towards a temple sealing and I firmly know that this family will be there. 

Miracle of Sunday: Well... I ran out of time to email. But just know many miracles happened! :) I love you God Bless you! 

I just love Toronto. It is Beautiful. 

We went to the ROM. I thought this was fitting.

I took this picture of this bird. It was on the top of the next building over.

A TTC tie.. every missionaries dream. I got it from a bus driver and he gave me his clip as well.

The Week Went Great

Yes, I am officially 20! Thanks for all of the birthday wishes once again. You all are the best! 

First off. I have the best companion alive. From making heart pancakes to singing me happy birthday almost every second she really helped me have a wonderful birthday. For me birthday celebrations aren't really a big thing. I just feel the exact way I did the day before I just have to tell people that I am a different age. Sister Jensen was counting down the days until my birthday, I wasn't sure if it was because she was going to make a birthday cake or if was because she just really likes celebrations. I asked her why she was so excited and she told me that she loves birthdays because Heavenly Father sent us here. She said it is such a happy thing that I came to earth and because of that I have been able to make a difference in many peoples lives. So there you have it, she is the best.  While we were getting ready to make the cake we found out that we didn't have eggs, so the YSA sisters brought us three really cute eggs wrapped in a paper towel in a baggie. Then we found out that we didn't have vegetable oil...but we had olive oil and that's pretty much the same thing right? When we went to grab a cake pan we found out that we didn't have one! We then decided that we would go tract our apartment floor and ask for a pan. Finally we found one and we baked our beautiful cake! We took one bite and....it tasted like olives. Hahah it is still sitting in the fridge. Oh the wonderful memories. 

Speaking of memories. This week we went on two wonderful exchanges! I was with Sister Womack. She is from California and has just about three weeks left in the mission. We saw so many miracles happen that day. As we were walking up the road putting up ESL flyers we had the prettiest view of downtown Toronto. It was phenomenal. We stopped to take some pictures and continued on our way. She is such a powerful teacher. I am grateful to have learned how to listen to people better as we teach. The second exchange I went on was with Sister Stoker. I went on an exchange with her last transfer as well. She is from Utah. Something super cool is that her family just poured the foundation to their home they have been waiting to build! That was super happy. Anyways, she is one of the kindest missionaries. While we were on exchanges we dropped by a super LA member. As we knocked on her door she saw that it was us and got angry and told us to take her name off of the records. We finally were able to tell her that the only way that could happen would be if she were to write the church and ask  for that. We told her that we could get her the bishops number. As we were doing that we asked her why she joined the church. And thats when everything changed. She allowed us to come into her house, she fed us juice and a million cookies, and told her about her conversion. After being baptized she was treated badly, offended, by someone else and she stopped coming. She told us how badly it hurt her and how the church just focuses on Joseph Smith. We boldly testified of the savior and that this is his church. While I was there I was so beaten down. I felt so much sorrow for her. Something that should always be on our minds are two primary songs. 1. I'm trying to be like Jesus, and 2. If the Savior Stood beside me. Those songs are songs that could have stopped alot of problems. Everyone, just be kind. Love everyone. This week we have a super busy week. I was teasing Sister Jensen that tonight right before we exchange I will  give her a hug and see her again on Sunday. We laughed but it is true! This week we have two big meetings, and three exchanges. It is going to be so fun! 

E: We have been trying to find more people to teach. We were going through some former records and we picked out a couple of people to go by. We went to E's house. We asked him if he would be interested in learning more about our church. He said that he was actually really interested. He said that since the elders stopped teaching him about four years ago he has continued to read some of the Book of Mormon. We have an appointment with him and several other people just like him this week! Super happy.

Member missionary work is the only work there is. As we were preparing to go to dinner at a members house they asked us if we could come thirty minutes later because she invited a non-member friend to come and that is when she could come. We excitedly agreed. While we were waiting for her friend to get there we asked how they would like us to bring up the church. They said that they didn't really want us to that they just wanted us to talk about what missionaries do. J is from the Philippines. She had seen missionaries before but had a lot of questions. While we were getting ready to leave the member friend got so excited that she asked her friend if we could teach her. Her friend agreed and we shared the Restoration as a spiritual thought. It was so fun to be able to see the joy that comes to the members who share the gospel! Remember, success comes in the invite. 

I love you!