February 23, 2015
Week two is down, and
on to week three here in Toronto! This week has been super cool (in many ways)!
But, before I get started, I just wanted to do a quick shout out to Kelly,
because her birthday is this week! Ahh! She is so cool everyone. Like really,
no joke! I also wanted to do a quick shout out to Sister Horn who enters the
MTC this week! I love these two ladies so much and am so excited for each of
them!
So, Canada is cold. It
wouldn't be too bad if it were not for the crazy wind! 80% of the great lakes
have frozen this winter! Crazy! Quite often, my companion and I leave our
apartment building, and just 1 short minute later, our nose hairs are frozen...
it is the weirdest sensation! The other night, we got off the subway and were
headed home. It is about a 7 minute walk in the cold. We got in, and both had
mascara running down our faces. We were so confused. Turns out our eyelashes
had frozen whilst we were walking, and had started to defrost/run down our face
once we got inside. We both had a good laugh!
My companion and I
find ways to have fun. Just the other day, as we were leaving our apartment, we
saw a nice leather love seat sitting by the dumpster. We joked that if it was
still there when we got back, we would take it up to our apartment.
Unfortunately, we came back with no time to spare, so we could not. However,
the next morning, during our exercise time, we ran down 24 flights of stairs,
grabbed the couch, and carried it back to our apartment, with the help of an
elevator of course! It makes both of us smile every time we use it!
Since being out here
in Canada, my testimony has strengthened in a lot of ways. One of the ways in
being that the Lord has called me, Katie Robison, to serve here in Toronto for
certain reasons. Because of that, I need to be myself! Through being myself,
and using my talents I have been given, my testimony of that has grown! Once a
week, we go over to an investigators house to teach a lesson. After the lesson,
we spend about an hour doing service. This investigator has a bit of a hoarding
problem and is trying to get her life in order. We are helping her through
organizing and cleaning EVERYTHING. As some of you might know, organizing
things is right up my alley! I have just always been good at it, and it is
something I kind of even enjoy! It makes it even better to know that our
investigator is improving greatly, and has accepted a baptismal date! The
gospel is awesome!
Want another example
of me using my talents? Okay! haha :) Sister Maas and I went over to do some
service for this old brother in our ward. He had just downsized and had so much
furniture everywhere! He asked us to help him arrange it all. It was great fun.
He then sent us home with a large jug of apple juice, and a thing of frozen
chicken strips! Yumm!
This Thursday, we were
able to attend a special mission conference. We were all hoping they would be
talking about Ipads! Apparently the mission has been promised them for quite
some time now... Ipads would be so nice for so many reasons! ah! But, it was
not about Ipads. President Clayton is so focused on the work of salvation. This
means that as missionaries, we are no longer only working with investigators,
but we are also working hard with the ward, and new and returning members. We
went new goals and new ways to bring about the work of salvation. It is our
goal to have 1,000 baptisms this year in our mission, because this is the time
for the hastening of the work! President Hinckley told the church that the
number of baptisms was going to double. It is our job as missionaries to help
bring that to pass. I am SO excited to be here during this time. I am so
excited to watch this mission grow as we are implementing these new goals! I
know that this is where I am supposed to be right now. I can't even imagine
being at school or anywhere else during this current time!
After the conference,
Sister Maas and I were supposed to meet with president. However, things ran
later than expected. So, instead, President and Sister Clayton joined sister
Maas and I for an hour and a half of our weekly planning! My oh my it was so
fun to have them there! We were able to seek insight for our investigators, and
talk about other things! It was a great experience!
The work is going well
here! I am enjoying it! I am still learning, but I feel like I am becoming much
more comfortable with teaching and opening my mouth! This past week I had an
aha moment during one of our lessons. I was struggling with staying completely
focused on the investigators and what was being taught. I would get
distracted by people walking by or random sounds, and so on. But, when we
are constantly praying for the spirit to be there and for our companions, all
while listening to what is being said, miracles happen! While following the
promptings of the spirit, I was able to invite our investigator to be baptized
in the middle of our lesson. He now has a baptismal date for March 22nd!
We just need him to come to church... but, it is still awesome! We currently
have 4 solid investigators with a baptismal date. SO COOL!
All in all, Canada,
although it is cold, is not too shabby! I have been able to got to Walmart
and Party City, as well as eat at 5 guys and Wendy's! But, I am also
trying a lot of new cultural foods, like fish and home made dumplings for
Chinese new years, or Tim Horton's (The Canadian equivalent to Starbucks even
though there are a few Starbucks here...)!
Well, I hope you are
all doing well! I love you all so much! Keep being so cool!
Sister Robison
No comments:
Post a Comment