A Canadian Thanksgiving!

Monday:

Email, lot of dirty service (hauling rocks, roots, trees, etc.)  out of a field.

 

Tuesday:

We had an awesome experience with Jeff and Whitney!!!  They had an answer to prayer about being comforted when they had to put their dog down, and THEY recognized it!!!!!!

I split my lip pretty bad falling through a tire.... but its almost healed up!!!!!!  Honestly, you can't really notice it anymore....  it should be healed within 2-3 weeks.

oh, I also dislocated my shoulder... but after a priesthood blessing we were back in business that night!!!

Wednesday:

 

I freaked out when I got all my mail!!!!!!  We loved the flashlights!!!  

 

Thursday:

 

WE SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!!  AND LOTS OF MOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!! AND A SLED DOG TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I also made the mistake of not taking my coat to a lesson that turned into a tracting for an hour in the freezing dark... in a short sleeve shirt... it was dumb... lol

Friday:

 

fun with two families we’re working with!!!!!!

 

Saturday:

 

Gave a lesson to a new convert

 

Sunday:

 

Gave another talk in church (about [Canadian] thanksgiving [celebrated on October 14, 2013]!!!!!!!  thanks for the Thanksgiving package!!  I used a lot of it in my talk!!!)  Had our first thanksgiving supper!!  I love pate and fresh homemade pumpkin soup!!!!! (yes, it was with the French family!!)

Monday:

 

Two thanksgiving dinners... :P  (I made a giant cinnamon roll for one and a peach cobbler (from scratch!!!) for the other!!!)  At the first, there basically weren't any members, lots of drinking and smoking... :P but we had a grace/blessing and they asked me to give it!!!  (made it casual but Mormon!!)  People thanked me for it too!!!  We saw the Northern Lights, and a dead calf with her mom wandering beside it in the road..... so we pulled it off and I said a silent pray for the cow... :(

 

And the house didn't blow up even though our pilot light went out in the middle of the night!!!!!!

The First Snow and General Conference Weekend

EVERYBODY!!!!!!!! HELLO??? CAN YOU HEAR ME OVER THE ARCTIC WINDS????  Oh, sorry, I forgot, none of you are freezing to death.... hahaha just kidding.  Things are awesome up here in the great white north!  We had our first snow fall (Oct 1st...)  and although its hovering around 7-8*C we're still having to switch between our coats, sweaters, and short sleeve shirts everyday cause the weather won't make up its freakin' mind?!?!?!

Well, on a happier note, Athabasca (There's something aboot Canadian's and their "a"s, eh?  lol) is absolutely wonderful!!  We've been busy helping, teaching, talking, walking, and driving like crazy!!  My companion and I, the branch, and the area all appreciate your thoughts and prayers, they've been felt and are absolutely necessary!!

Monday:

Drove, a lot, built some fence!  had a good LARC, and then had a super good lesson with Jeff and Whitney!!!! 

Tuesday:

Had our first snowfall. Played  a super fun finger-sized curling game! I'm actually not too bad at it!

Wednesday:

District meeting, cool spiritual thought about the Worth of souls ...  Then we drove back, and helped with baking/teaching at a youth activity!!!

Thursday:

We had a super good lesson with Lauris ...  Um, we did some service at the old folks home in Boyle, library service back in Athabasca (before that, confusing eh?) um, then we ate 2 suppers, and had to drive back on a dirt road because the main road was closed.... it was awesome!!!  Mud, fog, deer, and complete darkness!!!

Friday:

Had planning, ... found a potential investigator, ate with a bunch of foodies!  (We got to talk a lot about food/cookware!!) I got the Grouse!  I had it plucked, cleaned, and in the freezer waiting for thanksgiving in ~1 hour!!

Saturday/Sunday:

CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!  It was awesome!!!!!!!!  We didn't really have to do much at all, we taught a lesson though and got a new investigator!  A niece of one of our members. I felt like Elder Holland's talk was totally just for me!!!

Sunday night we got to try a bunch of French cheese (from a French family, and the cheese was imported from France!!!!) It was.... strong.... very strong.... but I was brave and ate everything they gave me!!!  

-Sante Maure Caprifeulli

-Le Mini Chevrot (super tiny, super... ripe)

-Tomme de Montague

-Ossau Iraty

-Fleur d'Aunis

-Camembert Austique

-Morbier

-St Nectaire

I hope everyone is doing well!!!  I've loved all the notes, letter, cards, and thoughts!!  Happy fall everyone!!!!!!

Sniffles, Service and Sharp-Tailed Grouse

Monday:

Shopped, did service all day at a non-member's house (raising granaries onto stilts.... super loud [cause I was inside while they were banging all around with hammers....] but awesome!!!!!)

Then we had a super good supper at their house!  We got back, changed, and taught a decent lesson to a different family!!  We're going back to them tonight, hopeful that the Spirit will be strong!  I also started to feel sick.... :P

Tuesday:

We stayed in the whole day because I was super sick............ XP  I've now been fighting this cold for a week now..... O_o  Our day looked like this

sleep;

wake up;

blow your nose;

eat;

drink;

repeat.

or something like that ;)

Wednesday:

Feeling a little better (after a Priesthood Blessing last night!) we did some service at a member's!!!!!!!!!  Hauled a bunch of stuff around... Got back, changed, taught a lesson, which didn't really go anywhere... :P and struggled for the rest of the night trying to find productive activities..... people can be angry for silly reasons...

Thursday:

More service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :D We were back at the non-members doing some more work (the crane had finally shown up!) um, ate some more food, tried not to die, and.... ate some more!  Oh, and we did some tracting.... :P

Friday:

We did......... *drum roll please*......... MORE SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's been a fantastic week of serving and finding!  We didn't help a ton, but it took a long time.... we ended up working on it the whole day...

Oh, so for the big story, I can now add another check to my bucket list.... My companion and I ate.............................................~roadkill~!!!!!!!  I now stand in a very small but very united group of missionaries who've eaten the unspeakable on their missions..... and, you know, it was pretty good!!!

Back story about the road kill...

So, we actually hit it with our car.... whoops.  It was a beautiful Sharp tailed Grouse (and it wasn't half bad after it met our grill either!)  

So a member showed/helped me pluck, clean, wash, and prep it!  It was an awesome experience!!!  And now I know a little more about survival!!

By the way, cleaning it made me want to try making grouse sausage sometime....  

Saturday:

Still pretty sick...  um, we tracted (...when you're sick.... it’s even worse.... :P), did our Mormon.org time (which made me realize how much I miss you guys..... :P)  Um, then we set up the church for the General Relief Society "Broad"cast (teehee :D )

I also got to do some cooking!!!  I reached out past the corndogs and cereal and made a bowl of pasta and fresh scratch Ragu!

Oh, and that Ragu?  Yup, its fresh Grouse Ragu!

Sunday:

We woke up, Elder Anderson had finally succumbed to the epidemic (which, has been sweeping the town for several weeks now.... :P)  we made it to church (as 2 of the 18 people "not sick" or gone traveling....) got a bunch of food from members... O_O <thank you!!!!  Gave a lesson to a Newly Baptized Sister and her kids, and then after getting advice from our Zone Leaders, decided to not get anybody else sick.... we slept, rested, and lounged by the humidifier until members asked if we wanted a free supper.... uh.... yes please!!!  So we had Canadian Tacos (think french crepe takes a trip south of the border... it was pretty good!!!)

Monday:

I'm still sick.... :P

A Week of Service

Monday:

After we finished email, we shopped, and then I baked... a lot...  I made an Apple Dutch Crumb from from scratch (without a recipe!) from stuff laying around the kitchen!!  And it tasted really good!! (It was super runny though... :P )

Um, after that, I made another Onion and Cheese Loaf.  And then we had dinner at a member's house, (it was super good!!!!!!!! Burgers, Greek salad, beets, and Grilled onions and blue potatoes!!!

Tuesday:

We did a ton of service!  Ride on lawn mowers, harrowing fields, moving stuff, etc, and it felt/smelled/looked like fall!!!!!  That day (the after I said it wasn't cold.. of course)  it ended up getting super nippy!  I wore my toque, sweater and scarf!

I even wore long sleeves and a toque to bed!!  Oh, so I'm practicing my french and my bread making!  Bro Raquin (the father of the French family) is a crazy good cook and really appreciates sharing stories back and forth! They tried my bread and said it was really good!!!  (He also gave me some cool advice that I tried, and it worked!!!)

Wednesday:

Um, we had a district meeting, and then a tender mercy (not having to tract in the super cold weather and instead getting to drive down to Edmonton that night)!  The zone leaders are awesome!!  They helped (basically did it all) us clean our car!!!

Thursday:

Did some service, it was fun! Then sat waiting for meetings.

Friday:

We did a bunch of service work today!!!  We started by helping the Rotary Club and then went [and] split wood at a members house (it lasted most of the day!!!!)

I caught a piece of metal shrapnel from the maul in my arm while we were splitting... it was kinda crazy,

Saturday:

Walked around a lot, did mormon.org time, etc. (I made a Raspberry cinnamon cayenne loaf!!!) They asked me late this night if I could speak tomorrow... sure!

Sunday:

They asked that my short 5-min introduction talk (which I forgot to prepare) to be lengthened to an as-long-as-possible talk.  So I ended up giving a pretty decent 10~ minute talk (which was long enough!!!!) that I prepared in Sacrament meeting.... woohoo!!  God totally helped me out!!!!!!!!!!!!  Then we taught priesthood, gave some blessings to some injured people in our branch, taught a lesson to an Indian couple (who fed us some awesome "kind of traditional"  Indian food!  With some Dried snacks which were "hot" (Called "sav"?)  I found that all those years of at least being around/trying spicy food made it taste good and be super fun!!!  That night we roasted hotdogs at a members house, and Bro. Raquin and I ate some ants!!  Big [----------] <-- (that big) ants!!!  He ate 1 "cooked" and one raw, after he killed it.  I ate one whole (and still alive!!) and one I threw it in alive and chewed it up to try and get the flavor... it was, interesting... kind of a metal tangy meaty taste.....

So that's Athabasca!  We've been commanded to use all means (safe and honorable) to get people interested. So we've been doing a lot more service!!!!!!!!!!!

Dirty hands, clean hearts!!!!!

Thanks for all the support!