Continuing In The Faith

Wow it's been a long time since I've written anything and to be honest I feel a little out of place doing it, but I've had a few people approach me and ask if I would write another post. I've been putting it off for quite a while now but February 8th was my 4 month anniversary of being home and I've received so many blessings that I felt a little guilty keeping them all to myself.

I guess I'll start off by up dating everyone with how I've been doing. Getting home was a hard adjustment to say the least, just ask anyone who was around me for more than 15 min and they will tell you (apparently its not normal to give out mormon.org cards to people while you're stopped at a stop light.)  I had only been home like 4 days and Jill was dyeing to watch something with me so she made me drive all by myself to her new place and if that wasn't uncomfortable enough she also made me watch Catching Fire. I was doing pretty good until it got to that part in district 11 where the nice old man gets killed. I start sobbing and not the pretty kind. Im talking that ugly cant catch your breath sobbing! All I could think of was that he never had a chance to hear about the plan of salvation and experience the joy and peace the gospel of Jesus Christ brings. To top it off Tyson, Jill's husband, just sat there laughing at me while Jill awkwardly patted my shoulder and asked if she should turn it off. YSA hasn't been any better between all the Book of Mormon jokes, kneeling to say a closing prayer after hanging out and going in for the hand shake instead of the hug Im surprised that I have any friends haha ; ). All in all I felt really out of place and it was hard. I didn't like a lot of the music people listened to or the jokes they told, to me "hanging out" and watching movies or something was an ineffective use of time, the things that most people my age found important and interesting just didn't click with me anymore.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Thankfully the Lord is very merciful and mindful of his children. With His help I am learning how to balance my life and move forward without reverting back to old habits. I keep myself busy by studying my scriptures daily, going to the temple and going out with the missionaries whenever I can. I got a calling in YSA as a gospel doctrine teacher which I am loving and I have the coolest people that I am visiting teaching! Now I dont want to give any false pretences. I am far from perfect at using my time effectively, my prayers aren't always meaningful, fasting is still not my favourite thing, I can be a pretty selfish person, sometimes I lose my patience and can be too quick to judge and the list goes on... But life is not about being perfect now, its about progressing and doing our best to be like our Saviour; being a little better today than we were yesterday #prezscott. Thats what I strive for each day and somedays are better than others, but I am happy with the work how things are going : )

proof that I can actually make friends haha

But enough about me, lets get to the important people!

Since I've been home I have done my very best to stay in touch with my family back in Ontario, so lets get to it!

Sam Healey

Sam continues to be a shinning example to me :) Since coming home she has had quite a few health problems but despite all these trials her faith never wavers, in fact recently her and her husband Shawn got to meet Elder Oaks, one of the twelve apostles! Sam and her family are preparing to leave our little Oakville to move farther north to New Market... or was it Berry... either way they are packing up their things to leave. With Shawn nearing his 1 year mark Im hoping that they will be going to the temple soon to be sealed in which I will be making a trip out to Toronto (hopefully)!

Jorden Healey

I had the privilege of having Jorden over for our family dinner this past Sunday! Thats right Jorden moved out to Alberta!!!!! What a sweet sweet blessing for me :D He is currently living with his aunt and is figuring out life and who he wants to be like many of the other 19 year olds out there.

Winnie LU (haha)

Winnie has been tied up with all her extra activities and plays it out in Kingston and is even thinking about doing some work abroad. She's been out and about with the missionaries, feeding them quite a bit and teaching it up. From what I understand by all the facebook posts she is also the coordinator for the YSA and keeps everyone informed on the activities going on.

Jess Thornton

I've been able to keep in touch with Jess over facebook and despite having lots of ups and downs she is hanging in there

Dieter Hoefer

My dearest Dieter is currently living in Winterpeg living it up in flight school! I was excited to hear that he is thinking of going to school back in Kingston OR right here in Calgary!!! I of course pushed hard for Calgary :) he will do wonderful things in the YSA out here with his big heart and selfless nature.

Jake Kilcollins

So I'm going to start off with a disclaimer that there were absolutely no romantic feelings between Jake and I while I was a missionary! When I got home I was getting in touch with a bunch of people from the mission, Jake being one of them, and I found out he was planning on moving out west to save up for a mission. I was stinking stoked and I started helping him find possible jobs out here. As we talked more I started to realize that this could possibly turn into something more and I guess Jake felt the same way cause he decided to move to Calgary. He has been here for a few months now and is working as an apprentice electrician and is almost ready to put his papers in :) All he has left is a dentist appointment and to get a passport and he will be all good! If you were wondering Jake and I are indeed dating. I'm so blessed to have him haha he is so patient with me is always an influence for good in my life.

Ian Comming 

Ian was struggling with priorities and identity. School was taking over and he still had some anxiety about coming to terms with there being a God and what that meant for him. After being so convinced in your ways I dont blame him! I've been chatting with him and all on his own he decided to make church and FHE a priority in his life :) he realized that he was missing something in his life and that was the spirit! He is so cool!

Will Bekoe

As far as I know Will is doing alright. He works sundays so he hasnt been able to go to church and there has been other stuff going on in the YSA thats has people preoccupied.

Taylor McDonald

Is still preparing for her mission! She is so excited and is nearly all out of debt :)

Maverick Danis

Has a strong testimony of the gospel but he's choosing to do his own thing. I havent had the chance to talk with him too much, but Jake has almost convinced him to move out to Calgary! So excited! I hope he does :)

Nate Ellis

Oh my goodness, my favourite family! I miss them SO much! Nate and his family are still going strong with church :) his daughters absolutely LOVE primary and sing the primary songs in their house all the time. Nate still has things he's trying to over come but there has been such a wonderful change in him. When I got home Nate and I started talking and he told me that he had gotten laid off and that he'd been offered another job only he would work weekends. He was pretty torn cause he needed church for his family but he also needed to provide for them. He asked me what he should do and I told him to trust God and that everything would work out if he chose to be obedient to the commandments. Nate was a little skeptical and I didnt hear from him for a week or so so I sent him a text to see how things were going. Turns out he took a leap of faith and turned the job down after doing that he received a call 30 min later from the same company offering him another position but with weekends off :)

Jen + The Gang

Jen and her family have stopped going to church for the time being and the decided not to let the boys get baptized. My heart broke a little for them, but since meeting with them I have noticed a wonderful change in them as they have had the opportunity to learn and apply the principles of the gospel to improve their family relationships and for that I will be forever grateful!

Ronda & Kassidy

As far as I know they are continuing to meet with the missionaries and are doing well... I sure hope they've made it out to church by now

As of Late

So the real motivation behind this post comes from events of this past week

<<<<<---------->>Jakes Family<<---------->>>>>

Even before Jake was baptized he had an urgency to share what he was learning with his family. We tried to help him out by sending missionaries over to his mom and sister but the lived waaaaayyyyy the heck up in northern BC in Fort Nelson which was about 5 hours away from the nearest branch. Since we couldnt get missionaries to them when Jake would go and visit he would share the Book of Mormon with them. Since moving out to Calgary and preparing for his own missions the feelings of urgency regarding his family have intensified. Well, He has done it again cause we just found out that Jakes mom, sister, sisters fiance, and his niece and nephew are moving to Calgary in May or June = they can go to church with him and learn from the missionaries :D #tendermercies

<<<-----> Pamela <----->>>

Sister Tebbs and I taught Pamela back in London. We did lots of service for her including scrapping paint off her trailer with butter knives haha. While we loved Pam very much, she was going through a lot tough family stuff at the time and wasnt ready to continue to meet with missionaries. Well I found out on monday that she got baptized this past Sunday!

and the good news doesn't end there!

*^^~~^^Catharine^^~~*

Does anyone remember Catharine from Guelph? She was the lady who stopped sister Urie and I on the street while we were running to get something from our car. Ya, you heard me right She stopped Us and asked us more about our church and if she could learn more. She also happened to live directly above us in our apartment building. Teaching Catharine was an amazing experience. She was a single parent of a little baby boy. She is a strong independent women who only wants whats best for her boy. When we taught her she would ask us tough questions and wouldn't move on until she understood what we were teaching her. Cathrin was baptized on Sunday as well : ) Its truly humbling to see how well our Heavenly Father knows us and is involved in our lives.

All in all I'm one pretty blessed daughter of God. I am eternally grateful for the privilege I had to serve in Ontario, it really was the best 18 months of my life thus far. I am so blessed to have these people in my life and for the experiences I had that helped to shape me into a more Christlike person.

Hope you all have a wonderful Family Day!

Scripture of The Week:

1 Corinthians 1: 27

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty"

A Haiku For You:

moving on
no unhallowed hand can stop
its His work


Peace and Blessings,

Lauren Hall