Superb Week

Hello Everyone! Happy new year again. I hope the first week of the new decade was wonderful for all of you! It definitely was pretty great for me. Things got a little crazy/busy with the start of the new ESL semester but it was good! Kept us on our toes:)) Here's what happened!

Zone Pday at a mansion!

Last week we had our "Christmas time" zone p-day. We got to go to one of Elder Li's super loaded member houses. Our whole zone went in his basement to play pool, ping pong, and other fun games like that. Also, in his movie theatre we got to watch a bunch of different church movies like "The Fighting Preacher" (go watch it, it's good). We also did a fun secret santa gift exchange. I got some lego things that turn into a zebra! Definitely one of my favorite Pday activities so far!

ESL Poster day

(new laminator)

One day this week was completely devoted to making ESL Posters. Just last transfer me and Elder Ruan spent 6+ hours making all the posters for all 11 classes in Calgary. Elder Li assigned us to make all the posters again (and more). Just to get the word out some more. So I designed some more posters and got to work! We spent from 10am-5:00pm designing, printing, cutting, laminating, and cutting again. All the posters... again. I really am developing a love for this but that was a rough day hahahaha. Anyways, I think ive told you this but we normally would lay the posters out on 2 long tables and use wide packaging tape to "laminate" them. But after 3 long months of begging the mission office to invest in a laminator, they finally did it! It took less time and looked wayyy better. Just imaging using a butter knife to eat steak, but then after 20 minutes of struggling, someone gives you a nice steak knife. That's what a relate the feelings I had to.  

Awesome dinner message

We didn't have dinner scheduled one day, so Elder Murtonen called a member that is always willing to have us over! She was happy to have all 4 of us. We had a regular member dinner came around until the dinner message time came along! This is normally where we look at each other and decide with our eyes who is going to give the message. But, the member stopped us and said "When we have missionaries over we like to play a game for the message!" *Sigh of relief... The game goes like this; The mom chooses a random word, this can be any word/object in the universe. When the word is chosen, each person has to find a connection to the gospel in some way. After some time everyone goes around and shares their scriptures and thoughts. The mom chooses someone that has to connect all of the ideas into one central message. I was excited to see what people would come up with! The word was "Amphibian". Each person took time to themselves (or with their partner) to find something that could connect to Amphibian! Some people talked about Sticking to the iron rod (since frogs are sticky). Another was being able to recognize the sound of the spirit (since frogs have a very distinct sound). I connected in ,in a roundabout way, to the kingdom of glory. Since these amphibians can go from one kingdom to another. And, it just so turned out that the mother chose me to make a connection to all the pieces! I felt the spirit confirm to me that everything in this world was created to point to a loving Heavenly Father; who sent us to this earth to learn and grow! I'm so grateful that the member showed us this awesome game. I challenge all of you to do this with the next group of people you eat dinner with! 

Food Pantry volunteering

We got to volunteer at the Calgary Food Bank! My mom has been telling me to do this since I got here. I finally got to it mom! We got a call from the Central Zone Leaders asking if we could cover one of the shifts they signed up for. We didn't have anything planned yet so we decided to hop on it! Wow, the food banks up here take things VERY seriously. People from all over Calgary in need of food were coming in and getting anywhere from 1-3 shopping carts of food! We got put at the end of a very complex assembly line where we actually get to meet the people, load their food into bags, put them in a cart(s), and offer to take it to their car with them! We were there from 10:30-1 and it was full speed ahead the entire time. We weren't aloud to straight forward proselyte but I would do my best to get their phone number when we went outside! I'm so grateful for the people I met and was able to help that day! 

Attending 2 baptisms

Saturday was a crazy day for baptisms. In the morning we went on splits with the zone leaders so Elder Li and I could fill the font, and Elder Choi and Zollinger could drive down to High River. The reason they went down there was so they could pickup baptismal clothes big enough for the recent convert! While the font was filling Elder Li and I were able to work on ESL posters, Maps, tests, and the new logo. When the baptism came around, it was a nice 8 year old girl with her moms side full of members and her dad and his family all non-members. We got the chance to get up right after the service and teach the first 3 points of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Faith, Repentance, and Baptism. The spirit was so strong in the room! I hope what we said brought good feelings into the father and his family! After that baptism we lost track of time talking to people and realized we had to be at the next baptism in a shorter amount of time than it took to drive there. We ended up making it on time since the recent convert was almost 20 minutes late anyways! She was awesome; such a strong testimony and excitement to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. When the service came around 3 missionaries got in the water with her to make sure they could get her back up!! It was unlike anything I've ever seen. She got all the way under and everything was good! I'm so grateful for the spirit I felt at those 2 baptisms! I look forward to getting the opportunity to attend more in the future. 

Got blindsided by a dodgeball

Went to a Stake youth activity to watch our investigator play dodgeball! We stopped by and were sitting with some members on the sideline. I turned my attention away for 2 seconds and got absolutely smacked in the face with a 90 mph fastball. Everyone around me was really confused where the ball hit! They thought maybe the wall, or my shoulder. Nope, the 10 eyelashes I had in my eyes after was a good indication that I got squared up.

This week has been awesome! I'm so grateful for the start of this new decade. This bicentennial year is going to be unforgettable! I found this suupper awesome video someone made; it's like a movie trailer for the next general conference. I'll try to put a link on here so you can go watch it!

Friends and Family, this is truly God's work! He sent us here to experience trials in order to learn and grow! He loves us, and knows us each individually more than we know ourselves. He wants to give us direction through living prophets and the Holy Ghost. Listen to them, act on promptings you receive! I hope you all have an amazing week!

Elder Giles