Staying in Downtown!

Got the transfer notice last night! Elder Choi and I are still going to be killing it here in downtown, Elder Ruan  (my trainer) is going to be Elder Vincent's companion in the North, and Elder Johnson is in a trio with Elder Zhu  and Elder Leung in the South. Looking forward to see the good work we can continue to progress here in Downtown!  This has been a really awesome week to finish off the transfer, but saying bye to my original trainer (Elder Li) has  been really sad!! The weather has been staying nice and neutral, not too cold and not too hot! Just nice enough to  wear a white shirt and jacket:)  We made some new friends and are keeping the ESL grind going strong! Here are  some highlights---->>>> 5 pin bowling Last Pday we had our Zone Pday since some of our friends are going home today! We wanted to do something fun,  so we decided to go bowling. The only place that said they offered 10 pin bowling was in a city outside of Calgary  called Airdrie. So we all went up there and found out that they actually only had 5 pin bowling, just like all the other  places. (I guess they don't take bowling as serious as we do down in America) Anyways, I got to 5 pin bowl the first  time! The balls are about a 3rd of the size with no holes so there is a learning curve, but once we got passed the  "5 year old birthday party" feeling, we had a good time! "Are you the new Elder Li?!" One of the 5 nights we were at ESL this week this amazing quote made my day. After class I was talking to the  Rounds (the senior companionship who has taken over ESL) about what we can do to get ESL signs up around all  the chapels and how we can digitalize all the handouts that people keep losing. As we were talking one of the  missionaries standing close looks at me and says, "Are you the new Elder Li??" We jump high-fived. I hope to  someday be like this great missionary! ESL Video A big chunk of time was taken this week by filming a new ESL training video with some other missionaries.  The video is a 5 minute, one take instructional video on how we run the classes. When someone messed up  a line we had to start the whole thing over. It was fun to film and we all got a good laugh out of trying to make it!  Even the final cut isn't perfect but it will get the point across! The Text Message Miracle So pretty much my whole mission I have been teaching a part member family every Friday afternoon. They are  such a great family but since the father is not a member and won't let the kids get baptized, there is some contention.  We have been challenging the family to come to our church every other week just to get some balance in what  they are learning. This Friday we went over to there house at the regular time, ready to share them our message  for that week. We got to the home and the mom was so so happy to see us. Apparently that morning she tried to  send us a text message saying "don't come over today... etc..." but the message wouldn't send!! She kept saying  how God would not let the message send because he knows that we need to keep teaching these kids the  fundamentals of the Gospel! It was a testimony builder for them and we had an amazing lesson that day. Got my Debit Cards Stolen... On Friday night we were at the chapel playing basketball. We normally always put our clothes and bags in the  Family HIstory Center and lock it. But, whoever was the last one in there left the door wide open. When we were  done playing we went back into the room and the only thing I noticed missing was my lulu bag... like the ones you  get at checkout! I was super sad cause it was my favorite one. It wasn't until that night I looked at my wrist and my  watch wasn't there!! My favorite $16 casio. The next day Elder Ruan notices that his debit card and all the cash in  his wallet was missing, I was grateful that they took from me was my wallet and my bag, until I looked at my wallet  and both my Debit cards were gone!! They didn't even notice the $100 cash on the other side of my thread wallet...  I called my dad immediately to cancel the card but before we got to it the thief had already spent $20 at a gas  station and $20 at the grocery store. Now I have to live off of this $100 cash until I can get my card replaced haha.  People are scary, don't leave anything unattended! Elder Li Exchange Training On Sunday we got a final exchange approved by President so that I could go with Elder Li and learn to actually  become him! We had some amazing talks about the mission and how things go. I'm super glad that I was able to  learn so much from him about ESL and looking at results rather than methods. We also went around to a ton of  different members to say goodbye! Super special day but i'm gonna miss that guy! Immerse yourself in the light of the Gospel President Nelsons invitation to us all. "...immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration." Set goals and  make individual plans on how you can do a better job completely immersing yourself! This Gospel is the only way to  true happiness.  Elder Giles