Things are looking good!

Elder Jake and Elder Peci

Holy cow it seems like this week just slipped by! It's gone!!! We found 2 new people to teach this week!!! One guy we tracted in to, gave him a Book of Mormon and got a return appointment for this week. The other one was a lady who had been previously taught by the missionaries. She is having some health problems. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and Prayer and invited her to pray for health. Then we got a return appointment for a couple weeks. It's super exciting. The area is finally picking up a bit! And we just got trained on how to use Facebook more effectively by a returned missionary so we are pumped to start using it more. Things are looking good! Not much else to report! But I'll attach a pic for you mom haha. Hope you all have a great week!!! Love you lots!!!

Elder Anderson

P.S. Oh yeah!!! We also had a tornado come through the area. No big deal or anything. It touched down just outside the city so nothing happened to us. But we got toonie sized hail. Some people got golf ball sized hail. Fun stuff. I'll send some pics of that too.

Our crazy missionary/tornado chaser

Elder Jake and Sister Roma Ranger

Next time you come to a bump in the road, don't wait for it to be removed. Hunker down and overcome it.

Man summers are brutal. Not many people stick around during the summer. The wards are super small every Sunday haha. The weather has been super nice too. I don't know why so many people decide to run while the weather is good. It's super dry here though. Yesterday we had a pretty good downpour during dinner. It only lasted for a few minutes but it came down pretty hard. Then about an hour later the streets were dry and it was almost like it never happened. They wind blows a lot here and it's always dry so things dry out pretty quick. It works out well when you're on bikes though.

We've been trying to stop by a ton of potential people who might be interested but we never catch them home. We've been tracting quite a bit too. That's always fun! Most people are respectful though. Occasionally we run into some crazies. Hahaha those are the fun ones. This week in church we had a guy just show up. He had this insane story about how his car is all the way down by the border and he has been hitchhiking back and forth to try to get it but he can't find his keys when he gets there so he had to come all the way back up to Calgary, then he found them. Oh man it's crazy haha. He's been through a lot. We gave him our number and got his. Then invited him out to church again next week. He said he'll come. We'll have to see what ends up happening to him. We run into people like that every now and again. It keeps us on our toes haha. Well not much else is new this week. Here's a cool little spiritual message though.

In the book of Mosiah, the Nephites are in a rough position. They are imprisoned by the Lamanites and they are not being treated well. You could call this a trial. Well the Lord, as always, comes in to help them. Here's what he says in Mosiah Chapter 24 Verses 14-15:

 "14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

I think it's interesting that the Lord said he would make the burdens of the people light. But instead of lessening the trial or obstacle, he strengthened the people so they could more easily bear their burdens. Sometimes when we pray, we pray for our trial or burden to be taken away. But that's not always the Lord's will. Maybe the whole reason we have the trial is so we can be strengthened. If he were to just take it away, then we wouldn't be able to become stronger. If you lift weights, but don't make it heavy for yourself, then you will never get stronger. Next time you come to a bump in the road, don't wait for it to be removed. Hunker down and overcome it. "Gird up your loins, swift courage take. Our God will never us forsake." 

I hope this email finds you all healthy and strong. I will continue to pray for you. Take care and don't forget to smile every now and again. 

Elder Anderson

Know that he loves you and his love can empower you to do anything.

Typical week. We've been looking for more people to teach. Haven't found anyone yet but we are still looking. We have some potential people we've found. Hopefully something comes from that. Simple message before I go!

John 15:9
"9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love."

The emphasis I want to make here is the last five words. "continue ye in my love." Sometimes the road gets rough. Sometimes we come to a mountain in our path. Christ has invited us to continue along that path. But not just to keep moving forward. Move forward in his love. Know that he loves you and his love can empower you to do anything. Open yourself up to the love of God. Let your whole soul be filled with it. Let us all press on.

Elder Anderson

We did meet our new president this week. He seems really nice.

No more car for Elder Jake, just walking and bikes.

That could get interesting this winter!!

It was a pretty good week. The highlight by far was the Jamaican guy who came to church. He stayed for all three hours even! hahaha and he's going to come again next week. We are hoping to start teaching him. He was awesome! He knows a lot about Jesus Christ and was super interested in our Gospel Essentials class. He's gold.

Other than that it was pretty regular. Our area is now officially a walking/biking area. They took our car. It's not bad though. It's a pretty small area and it's summer so we're not too bummed.

We did meet our new president this week. He seems really nice. His wife too! So far we haven't heard too many changes but we have zone conferences coming up so that might bring some changes then. But things are still going great.

I hope you are all doing well back home! I love you all!!!

Elder Anderson

I can't believe how great President and Sister Nicholas are.

Well summer is officially here. So everyone is out of town pretty much. It's really hard to catch people home in the summer time. It's been really warm here too. In the low 30's (Celsius) even. It's been really nice. I'm getting pretty tan... not gonna lie! 

Hahaha but there's not much to report on. One cool story though. So President Nicholas took my Uke away several months ago. (LDS Missionaries are not supposed to have musical instruments.) Well I emailed him asking for it back for the summer so I can go contacting with it and what not. He called me a couple weeks later and told me the Mission Home was broken into a few months ago and my Uke was one of the items stolen. 

He felt super bad. I told him it was okay. I wasn't too worried about it. I felt bad that he felt bad. Well the other day he called and asked if I was attached to the brand it was. I said not at all. He said good because he was at a guitar shop and they didn't have that same brand but they have one that is about the same quality and everything that he is going to buy me to replace it. He is seriously amazing! I told him he didn't need to but he did it anyway. I can't believe how great President and Sister Nicholas are. Seriously amazing!!! It's a really sad goodbye!!! 

Well hope you have a great week! Talk to you next time!!!

Elder Anderson

Still a blast every day.

Elder Jake at lunch with Roma, his "Canadian Grandma"

So I almost forgot to email this week. Haha that would be dumb if I did though right? Naw I totally wouldn't forget... 

Anyway. It has been a great week. The recent convert is doing great. She even came to church early which was awesome to see. We had stake conference this week. Our Mission President spoke as it is his last Sunday in the mission. I can't believe he is going home. We will miss him a ton. But I'm excited to meet President Miles. 

Anyway. Other than that it's been a pretty normal week. Still a blast every day. Truly great. Hope all is well back home!!! 

Love you all!!!!!!

Elder Anderson

My first baptism

What a week. The highlight was definitely the baptism. Our investigator got baptized this week on Friday. It was amazing. And there was a cool story behind it. She has a huge fear of water. When she showers, she says she has to plug her ears to make sure no water gets in. So baptism was an obstacle for her. Well after we told her she could wear ear plugs for the baptism, she felt a lot better about it. Well she gets to the font on the day of her baptism, and she forgot her ear plugs. She literally started shaking she was so scared. It was paralyzing fer her she said. As she took the arm of the man who baptized her, she said it was as if all fear was forgotten and as if God was hugging her as she entered the font. It was the greatest thing that could have happened. And as if that wasn't cool enough, she shows up at church that Sunday feeling really sick and here eyes giving her problems. But she still came!! She is an incredible person and already has such a strong testimony. It has been an honor being able to watch her come closer with her Savior Jesus Christ. It has strengthened my testimony just watching her. I am so excited to see her continue to progress toward her Heavenly Father and Savior. 

I am so grateful for the love that our Heavenly Father has for each and every one of us. I feel his love every day and it gives me strength and courage to continue to move forward. I know He loves you beyond what you could ever imagine. Just hold on! Cling to his love and let Him carry you away from all your problems!

I love and miss you all!!! Take care and have a great week!!!