S'more Highlights:)

Halloween

So yea apparently it was Halloween or something?? I just can't believe how FAST time is going right now... June was like last month. For Halloween we spent pretty much the entire day in the Chapel for Zone Conference. This one was special since a bunch of the zones came together to meet with the Area President, Elder S. Gifford Nielson. Great guy, gave an awesome GC talk in Oct 2013 called "Hastening the Lord's Game Plan!" Anyways, he was super awesome. Had a lot of really awesome things to say about our mission and how we can work a little more effectively, through members and such! He also explained the importance of Companionship Study, and how we should still do it when we get married. 

College contacting

Our new special assignment from President is going great! I love going to the University of Calgary to contact and find. It's so much fun talking to people my age and explain to them what the heck I'm doing. We also found a NICE place to contact Chinese people.  There is a room in the college that just has ping pong tables and other stuff like that, and Chinese people just hangout there. It's such a normal and nice way to meet more people!

Downtown Blitz

Our other special assignment from President is also going great! All 6 of the mandarin elders go downtown at the same time and just contact. When we came the other elders were already started talking to a nice Chinese lady, seeing that made me want to go find someone too. This "downtown blitz" is going to be a very effective way to find people and get our name out there! We found a really awesome guy named Zhang. He was really nice and fun to talk to but when we tried to get his phone number/ give him our card. He told us he will never want anything to do with any Christian churches... that happens a lot but I know we will find someone who has been prepared!

ESL Potluck

Chapel tour

Had our first ever ESL potluck this week! We basically just invite all the students learning english from all around Calgary to come to one place and bring their favorite dish from home. The potluck was at 6:30 and we got there at 2:30 to set up, make handouts, and outline the Chapel Tour, etc. After setting up for 4 hours our hope ran out when only 7 people showed up with 2 dishes. But, as it got later, like 6:50ish people started flooding in! We estimate there were about 40 students there! The food table was chuck full of weird stuff I've never seen before... its was good! After everyone slowed down we offered a chapel tour to groups of about 3-5 people. I got to take the first group! With Elder Djikwel, our Sister Training Leaders, 3 investigators, and 1 convert! We walked around to all the different rooms, talked, and showed the videos the church has prepared just for that occasion! I was able to do some translating for the Chinese investigator. The last step in the tour was at the Baptisimal font. I didn't know what to say but the spirit was so strong. I said some things, probably nonsense, showed the video, then felt impressed to ask the convert to share her conversion story! She was awesome. I felt the spirit so strongly as she testified to these few investigators!

Unsuccessful Mandarin Group

Our Mandarin group (Chinese people in an english ward with their own Sunday school class) was supposed to start this week. We invited all our investigators, all the less active Chinese people in the south, all the dropped investigators, and everyone who would even be interested in coming! I figured if we invited close to 30 people maybe 5 would show. Turns out none came. sad:( So, we are going to retry, build some faith in our less-actives, build closer relationships, and get started again in 2020! Don't transfer me Pres.

Sacrament in the Relief Society room

Our whole branch had sacrament in our Relief Society room. They used to only meet there before I came but we got too many members so they moved to the chapel. Well they needed to practice for the primary program next week so they switched sacrament to second hour. And put it in the RS room. All I have to say is it was squished. I guess that's really good problem to have! Nonetheless it was an awesome testimony meeting.

CTrain

Took the CTrain for the first time this week! It goes from South Calgary, all the way up through the city, and northwest past the university. I never realized that it would save us so many miles on our car. It's so convenient and a great contacting opportunity! Definitely going to be doing it more often.

Dinner with EQP and RSP

Had dinner with our Elders Quorum President one night and our Relief Society President another. These two dinners were my most effective dinners yet. My comp and I prepared a list of all our inactives down south, and asked them how we can best help them. They had some awesome ideas, especially with this one named Charlie. "Ask him to make us turkey for the branch Christmas party on the 21st of Dec!" So random but things like that are what help us missionaries!

This church is true! I have felt the spirit confirm to me several times so far. The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God, and was translated by a prophet of God. Though daily scripture study and prayer we truly come closer to our Heavenly Father and receive the guidance we need from the Holy Ghost. Have a great week everyone:) shoot me an email if you need anything!