Elder Bednar came to the MTC on our last night! He gave an amazing talk as usual and I think it was about a message a lot of people need to hear. Just be a good girl/boy, and the spirit will direct you. No need to stop and think about if every little detail in your life is perfect, because nobody is perfect! Just live worthy of the spirit and God. Don't stop. Keep doing what God has commanded of you and press forward.
Traveling to Canada felt long because I was so ready to be there already! We took a bus and a train to get to the airport, got through security and hoped on our 1 hour 13 minute flight to Calgary! We had to do some waiting for our visas in the Canada airport since no body could figure out why we wanted to stay for 720 days! Then we met the mission president and his wife! President and Sister Keung. They greeting us with hugs and we so happy to see us!
That night we had dinner at their house, a small devotional and got assigned to our trainers. We both got put in trios since we came a week before transfer, but that turned out to be a blessing! Elder Ruan and Elder Li are my trainers! I love these elders to death, they are so funny, speak perfect Chinese, have such amazing testimonies of the gospel, and just know exactly what is going on. They're awesome. I have already learned a-lot from them. Sadly, Elder Li just got called as Zone Leader so he will be leaving us tomorrow:/ but its alright! Elder Ruan and are going to kill it. (Can u believe my trainers name is RUAN?!)
First couple of days out here I was just trying to adjust, trying to get a feel for how things work. I mostly just did exactly what my trainers did and didn't talk much. In lessons I would try to get as much out of what they were saying and wait for them to look at me when its my turn to talk. Then I would testify of what they said was true and if i was feeling frisky i would throw a personal experience in there. The very first day we did some tracting in Chinatown, we met 3 guys and talked with them for a little about the gospel and gave them a Book of Mormon with our phone number in it! Then, we met a very nice lady that was sitting outside the chapel, we talked to her for a pretty long time about God and the power of the spirit! She was very interested so we asked if she wanted to see what was in the chapel. She said yes and we took her for a chapel tour! I didn't understand much of it but I was able to testify a-little. She smiled the entire time. Towards the end we invited her to church and she told us that she was flying to China the next day. We tried to give her a Book of Mormon but she refused since she didn't have any space to pack it... sad days but at least we planted a seed in her heart!
Next we helped a less active member named Fred take down a greenhouse and move some concrete blocks to his backyard, then we went inside for cheeseburgers and pizza. He was very nice! When the rest of his family got home (wife, twin sons, and grandma), I led a lesson on the Plan of Salvation. I was so nervous but when I looked at all their smiling faces and just spoke, the Lord put things in my mouth that I never would have thought to say! It went very well, we invited them to get their patriarchal blessings and come to church on Sunday, they accepted both!:) That night we had dinner at an English families house. Wow can I just tell you it was nice to be able to speak english for an hour! It felt like a breath of fresh air to be able to understand what was going on.
Later on, we had another meeting with a different less-active family, this family is so sweet! They have a 9 year old daughter and 2 twins that are probably 3 years old. They were astonished when I spoke Chinese to them! We taught them about the importance of making and keeping covenants with God, then we transitioned to be focused on the 9 year old girl names Tina we asked her if she liked the feeling she had when she did something good, then taught her what the feelings of the spirit were. I then got the opportunity to ask her if she was willing to be baptized! I was shaking because I was so nervous but she said YES! I have a baptismal date and its my first week! October 19th. We gave her a picture of the temple for her to put up in her room and invited her to pray with her dad every night. The family was lit up with joy because of the spirit that was present! AHH such an awesome day.
Sunday came along and I got to both talk and pray in sacrament, they love getting new people in the branch! Hahaha. I basically just got up there and briefly talked about how much i love my family and testified that this church is true. After sacrament all the members came up to me and Elder Vincent to welcome us and tell us our Chinese is good. (people only tell other people their language is good if its not haha think about it) But yea a nice lady had a package for me from my mom already! That was fast.
Next couple of days were awesome. I'm not going to go in detail because the email is already too long. But yea there is a lot of work to be done out here in Calgary and i can't explain how excited I am to do it. I can feel the Lords hand in my life everyday, helping me learn this language. I am so grateful for this mission, everyone here is so great! This is the restored Gospel on the earth today. This church is the only way to true happiness in this fallen world! Always remember the covenants you have made with God! I hope everyone has an amazing week:)
Elder Giles 吉长老
What a wonderful first week in Calgary . Sounds like you hit the road running. By the way do you have transportation there? Will you always be in the same branch for church?
ReplyDeleteLove you and you are a bright loving spirit. Can’t wait to hear all your experiences in Canada .