Christmas

This week was pretty fun! We had a super different week with it being Christmas and all! On Monday we went snow shoeing for our P-day activity and It was super fun. There are a ton of snowmobile paths here so we just explore those. We taught a ton of lessons on the first couple days of the week and we also did a fair bit of knocking on doors. It was cold. It was super hard to find people though because everyone and their dog is in Winnipeg. People here go to Winnipeg like every weekend. they treat it like a trip to Calgary for us from Lethbridge. Only Problem is that it is 8 hours both ways. I seriously know people who have gone to Winnipeg for a haircut. They are crazy!

Christmas Eve was a super interesting day! We had a really good district meeting over Skype. It is always fun to "see" other missionaries because it doesn't happen much here in the North. After District meeting we spent like the whole day preparing for a community dinner. It is put on by some less active members of the branch. They put it on every year and they get over 200 people come. It has a bit of a bad rep for being just a "homeless dinner" but they are very clear that you don't need to be homeless to come. It is for anyone who doesn't have a Christmas dinner. they get a lot of single guys who work in the mine who couldn't go home for the Holidays. What we did on Christmas eve was shop. Missionaries always get the money jobs because I guess people don't think we will steal anything. We were given over $500 and a huge grocery list and we just went hard in Wal-Mart and Safeway. the turkeys, ham and potatoes were all donated but we had to buy like 35 pounds of carrots and a bunch of other stuff and every time we dropped off what we had they thought of something else they needed so we would go back to the store. It was really fun actually. That night we were told to stop Proselyting at 5:00 so we spent the evening at the Hinds house and had some fun! 

Christmas day was the highlight of the week (as it should be). We were told we could sleep in until 9:00 but I was up at 7:00 anyway. Not because of excitement just because my body is used to being up at 6:30 every single day. We opened the presents and all that! It was really fun! Thanks to all who wished me Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas to you too! (and happy new year which may be more appropriate now). We then hustled over to the church to talk to our families. We got a whopping 45 minutes to talk. It was way too short! It was really good to see them. A Christmas miracle happened too! I sent a package last week sometime and the guy at the post office said "don't expect it to be there until after Dec 29". It got there on Christmas eve. We talked for what felt like 5 minutes then hung up. After that we volunteered at the community dinner and I washed more dishes than I ever had before in my whole life. My hands were totally raw at the end. It was Great! That night we spent at the Basallos, a family in the branch and watched the movie "Home". It was a funny cartoon. (President Craig gave us permission to watch one G-rated Disney movie with a member. he specified further that Star wars at the theatre wasn't allowed. good thing there is no real theatre here so the temptation wasn't too strong). 

On boxing day our car wouldn't start because we didn't plug it in. We walked a lot that day and it was -35ish. Fun times. Our car still won't start but it isn't the battery so it is at a dealership right now. Our poor truck haha. On Sunday I talked in Sacrament and also ended up teaching adult Sunday School with no time to prepare. Thank goodness for members that will contribute to discussions and Mormon messages. Pam was able to make it even though it is freezing cold! transfer calls come on Saturday and I am possible out of Thompson but hopefully not! 

Love you all! Elder Stewart

Every missionary in the mission has been asked to make something like this as their profile picture on Facebook.  This is his new profile.

Winnipeg Trip

On Monday morning we headed out to Winnipeg and we drove down in caravan from Ponton which is where we met up with the Elders from Flin Flon. They too are both Canadian so that is super nice! We got down into Winnipeg around dinner time but we had to go wash the car because we had interviews with President Craig that night. Our truck was so dirty that you couldn't even see the license plate (keep that in mind). We washed the car and then started heading over to the mission office. I didn't know how to find it so I was following Elder Timms from Flin Flon because he served in Winnipeg. I didn't want to lose him but in the first intersection I went through I saw a big flash behind me (my license plate was visible at this point). Now I am just waiting for an awkward phone call from the mission office telling me I got a photo radar :(.  I had to not think about it because I had my interview which was great! President Craig is the best! 

On Tuesday we had a Christmas Zone conference where the Assistants, President Craig, Sister Craig, the Sister training Leaders and some Zone leaders all gave portions. It was so good. They also fed us twice! One meal was a pork and rice dish and the other was Lasagne. Something President had asked us to do was prepare a 5 minute talk just in case he happened to call us to give it on the spot. Lucky me I was one of the 7 people called! I knew it was coming, I could just feel it but it was alright because I am starting to like talking. That night we all watched "It's a Wonderful Life". I was so excited because I even told Elder low a couple days earlier how I was sad I couldn't watch it this year because I watched it every year. That was a pretty fantastic day. On wednesday morning I got a call from Elder Joncas who is one of the Assistants and he informed me that we weren't allowed to leave Winnipeg because of road conditions. He said call him at 10:00 to see if we could leave then. We were allowed to! Flin Flon had some things to do so they were going to leave around 11:30 but by then the conditions got bad again so they couldn't leave. We were the only missionaries to leave Winnipeg that day. Even the Brandon missionaries didn't get permission. We made it home safe and without any photo radars I think haha. 

It was a good week for the rest of the week and it sure flew by. We were sad to learn that Pam is out of town for a long time because her dad had a stroke and a heart attack on the same day. We had our branch Christmas dinner on Saturday and we had a Chinese family who is investigation attend. It was great! We got all the leftovers and I seriously don't think we can eat it all! 

I hope you all have a great week and a Merry Christmas!

I love you all

Elder Stewart

Elder Stewart decorated for the Christmas party.

Charlie Brown Christmas!

On Monday I decided that we needed a Christmas tree for our apartment so I talked Elder low into it and we went out into the bush to find a tree. We had one picked out from the week before but we couldn't go back for it because we got a lecture from brother Hinds about staying away from the river (which is where all the good trees are). I think it could be a good talk analogy. Anyway we went into the bush but the trees here are not very full because it gets so cold and there are so many close together that the nutrients are hard to get (except by the river haha) so they don't really look like Christmas trees but it will have to do. that was one of the more fun P-day activities we have done.

We worked really hard this week but it was just one of those weeks. In mission lingo there is a word we use called "lunched". It is when you have an appointment and the person doesn't show. I guess it refers to them leaving you out to lunch. Anyway we got 'lunched" between 2 and 4 times a day every day this week! getting lunched a couple times a week is expected but this week was more than a little which can make it tough at times. It was still a good week though because we got lot's of good things done. We taught the family from India again and they began reading the Book of Mormon in Hindi which I think is pretty neat. It is truly amazing that the Book of Mormon is is so many different languages that almost everyone can read it. 

We also continued to teach Pam this week and she is doing well but still struggling with a smoking addiction. She is so open to learning about the Book of Mormon and the church! I am sure she will be baptised but it may take a little bit longer than anticipated because of the addiction but it will happen!! We had another man named Allen on date for January 2nd to be baptised and we taught him with a member from the branch. When we went to pick him up for church we were informed that he had been arrested and put in jail so we will try to teach him again when he is out! It was really sad to get this news!

On Saturday we volunteered at a parade and collected clothing and foo donations for the homeless people. I didn't wear my boots and my toes fell off so that was bad but they gave us free bannock so it was worth it!

Church was really good yesterday and Brother Hinds is doing a great job as Fill in Branch president! As branch clerk I have the opportunity of doing the tithing but when Elder Burkman was here I didn't get to actually do that much because he would jut do it. now that he is gone it all falls on me but I didn't really know how to do the computer part (believe it or not) but surprisingly we got it all figured out! 

Last night we sang at an old folks home and I actually sang a solo in part of we three kings. I sounded like Josh Groban so it was OK haha

Today we are driving to Winnipeg so that will be a blast I am sure! Hopefully the roads are ok because when the assistants tried to drive up to do an exchange with us they rolled their truck! They weren't hurt but it was scary. 

Love you all!

Elder Stewart

Where is Winter?

It was a pretty great week this week!

On Monday we went for a bit of an adventure by the river for fun. We found some pretty beautiful places which is weird because we were pretty much still within city limits. P-days are interesting here because we never see other missionaries so we get creative with P-day activities. Basketball isn't an option. I haven't shot a basketball in MONTHS! it is seriously killer and a left handed layup might be a little difficult for me now haha. 

We had set a goal of finding some more people to teach and this week we were super successful in that regard. We found six new people to teach which is the most I ever had in a single week. It is really interesting because a couple of them are from India and don't speak English very well so we taught a lesson through the translation of one of their 13 year old sons. That was something I had never done before but it actually worked better than I thought it would. Lucky for us in all the moving we have been doing we found a Book of Mormon in Hindi! What are the odds of that??

Speaking of moving we have been doing a lot of that lately. We now have all of the important stuff in the new apartment but we still find ourselves back and forth for the little things. Our new apartment is way smaller but so much nicer as well so it is a trade off. We had the maintenance man guy approach us and tell us he wanted to come look in the old apartment. We hadn't done the deep clean yet and he said it was one of the cleanest he has seen! I don't even want to know what the other ones look like because some parts of ours were kind of dirty but overall it was fairly clean. He gave us a big lesson on cleaning the stove and that was nice. 

One neat thing that happened this week was that we were stopping by someone we met that had invited us over, she ended up not wanting to see us but her brother was like I want to talk to you so we have taught him twice now! You never know where you will find people to teach. 

Church this week was really weird without the Burkmans being here but we managed. Brother Hinds who has been the Branch President for a total of 40 years presided and conducted. We were a small crowd but the Spirit was really strong! We also had the first Presidency devotional last night. It was really good but I was sad that president Monson did not speak, I guess he is having some health difficulties. Hopefully he can recover. The weather here is still super nice! The normals for this past week in years past is -25 and this year it is like -4 or something. We always tease the locals that Manitobans don't really know cold but I think they do haha.

Have a good week!

Elder Stewart

I Am Moving!

This week was a different week for sure but it was a really good one. We got a bit of a surprise opportunity to go on an exchange. typically an exchange is 24 hours so you sleep over but that makes it tough when the closest missionaries are 4 hours away! WE got to drive to Ponton (in between here and Flin Flon) on Monday and we switched companions so Elder Low went with Elder Bloemart to Flin Flon and I went with Elder Moore (different one than my MTC companion). It was really sweet to be able to spend all of Tuesday and part of Wednesday with him. Right after the exchange we met in Ponton again and the Flin Flon Elders left to Winnipeg because Elder Moore is now in Winnipeg as a zone leader. Lots of driving for them! Elder Moore and I did some knocking on doors on Tuesday which was the only really cold day so far this year. It was -25 or so and that was no fun but that is OK because we had some potential success! Elder low and I spent more time this week doing service than usual because everything from the Burkmans apartment has to be in ours because they left this morning. Right now our apartment is jam packed full of stuff from their apartment. We also got a surprise phone call on Wednesday informing us that we are moving apartments to open up a vacancy for the new Sr couple that is coming. We have to move all of our stuff from our current apartment to a new building and 3 floors up and deep clean the old apartment while it has a lot of stuff in it before January 1. We will be very busy I am sure! the new apartment is like half the size of our current one (or less) so we will have to be extremely creative to fit everything (including our beds). I am actually kind of excited because it will be an adventure! We were still able to get in about the normal amount of lessons this week and although there is no one on date to be baptised the work is progressing. On Sunday it was the Burkmans ;last day so they both spoke and said the goodbyes. It was the 5th Sunday so it was supposed to be the branch president teaching Sunday School but seeing as Elder Burkman had just talked and was leaving I got asked to teach. I was assigned to talk on missionary work which is a little odd because I didn't want to sound "woe is me". I think it went well though! After church the Branch surprised the Burkmans with a HUGE Potluck. It was wonderful. The Burkmans were so excited especially because they had everything packed up and all they had to eat was TV dinners with plastic spoons haha. The branch is sad to see them go and so am I. This morning we said our goodbyes because we had to get the last of their stuff at 5:30 this morning :/. I have really developed a love for teaching lessons and really just talking to people so I feel like I am a bit different than I was before. 

Love Elder Stewart

Lynn Lake

This week was an eventful one for sure! On Monday we decided that we should do something fun for P-day because it can be hard seeing as there are no missionaries and no basketball courts in Thompson! I was able to talk Elder low into going on an adventure! We went exploring in the bush just outside of Thompson! There was a fair bit of snow in the trees and we had no idea where we were going so we just explored around for a bit. There are so many snowmobile paths back in there that I think I could go there every day and still not walk them all! That night we were able to teach a family that lives in Gillam (4 hours NE) over skype. They have young kids so we had to get super creative with keeping them interested over skype but it worked well!

On Tuesday we were able to connect with one of our investigators for the first time since Elder Low arrived because she has had Bronchitis. Luckily she is better now! We continued teaching Pam this week and she is still really desiring to be baptised but we will have to postpone her date a little bit. She is like a sponge, we have taught her all of the lessons and now when we review them she answers everything correctly! She could probably teach gospel principles haha. 

On Wednesday we had the last District meeting as a District because this week is transfers. It will be sad to see the district change but I am sure it will be for the best! Our District leader had us share a spiritual experience/testimony builder from our mission and the spirit was so strong in that meeting! 

On Thursday the assistants to the President were supposed to be coming up for a very quick exchange which is a huge sacrifice for them because we are 8 hours north of them. Around noon on Thursday I gave them a call to see where they were at and they answered and old us that the roads were really bad so they weren't coming any more but I could tell that he did not want to talk so we said bye and hung up. We found out later that when I called him he had just crawled out of the side of the truck and was dialling 911 because they had slid into the ditch and rolled their tuck and it ended up on it's side. No wonder he didn't want to talk or explain why they couldn't come! The only major injury was to the truck so that was really good news! I guess we are just not meant to see other missionaries or something. 

On Friday we packed up for the weekend and headed four hours NW to a place called Lynn Lake! the roads there were good but they had a TON of snow there and we slid (in slow motion) into the ditch and were stuck in super deep snow but we were literally 200m out of Lynn Lake so we weren't scared or worried it was just annoying. We said a prayer before we did anything and literally as I opened my eyes a red truck rounded the corner. they turned around and it turns out they had just driven from BC to come search for Diamonds in Northern Manitoba. Anyway they pulled us out and we had a safe rest of our trip! Prayer works! We taught the family in Lynn lake and another Family in Leaf Rapids on the way back! We arrived back safely on Saturday afternoon/evening and we had soo many missed calls because there is no service anywhere so we did not have any service from Friday morning to Saturday evening. Saturday was transfer calls so the assistants were trying to get a hold of us but they couldn't! Finally when we did they told us where we will be spending the next 6 weeks... We are both staying in Thompson and I will finish the second half of Elder Lows training. We are excited because Thompson is the place every missionary wants to serve so we are lucky. 

Yesterday was the temple rededication and we attended the 11:00 session! It was really good, I bet the other ones were too but we only got the one in Thompson so that was it for us. We stayed busy this week and taught lots! 

Congrats to my brother on returning home safely. 

Love you all!

Elder Stewart

A Baptism!

This week we taught more lessons than I ever had before in a week! We continued to teach Pam this week and she is doing great! Most people we meet with only want to meet with us weekly or sometimes twice a week but not Pam! We taught her 6 times this week! We are so excited for her and her progress! 

Remembrance day was on Wednesday and it was weird not to be in Magrath for the ceremony but I figured we should still go to a ceremony so one of our investigators to us where to go and when! It was held at the ice arena (which is surprisingly big for such a small city, but hey it is a hockey town) and the whole arena was filled. We got there like 10 minutes early and could not get seats which was actually kind of exciting because I did not know how many people would go there. they had a bunch of RCMP and firefighters there in uniform as well as Cadets and scouts. The population here is almost split evenly between Caucasian and Native american people so at the ceremony they had a Christian preacher share a scripture on peace and they also had an Aboriginal elder do the peace pipe ceremony which I thought was a good idea to keep everyone happy. to make the ceremony even better they fed everyone Hot Dogs after! I have no clue who paid for it but it was great. 

on Thursday we had Zone Training meeting which was in Brandon but our Km's allotment didn't allow us to drive down so we Skyped in. Never try it, it doesn't work. Us and two other companionships skyped in but none of us could hear the missionaries in Brandon, we could only hear each other. It was awful because we couldn't leave 1. because we weren't allowed and 2. because the people in Brandon could see us even though we couldn't see them. Ultimately we sat there listening to every 5th word for 3 hours! believe me I was not sad when it was over haha. things got better that day though. We had arranged to meet an investigator at Tim's later that day. When we got there our investigator was not there yet. I started talking to a random lady and she was telling me what her favourite stuff from Tim's was. I had never tried her favourite muffin and she said I had to try it so she bought it for me! That made my day a little better! On Thursday night we met with one our members friends and he asked us all kinds of questions about religion in general and about The Book of Mormon. It was really fun to talk to him because the questions were hard to answer but he was not trying to Bible bash in any way! When Elder low and I walked out we felt like we had done a really good job! It really made me appreciate my studies because I was able to share some scriptures that answered his questions way better than I could have. 

On Saturday I got the opportunity to Baptize Jasmin. She is a girl from the ward, her father wanted us to teach her the missionary lessons so we did and then she asked me to baptize her. Her dad served a mission and wanted one of us to get the chance to baptize her so I did and Her dad confirmed her! It was a great experience and Pam was there, she really enjoyed the service.

My family has spent the week travelling eastern Europe and picking up Parker this week so I am sure that has been fun. I am living vicariously through the pictures.

Love you!

Elder Stewart