The Work Of Salvation, It's Not Just A Catch Phrase

The Work Of Salvation, It's Not Just A Catch Phrase

Transfer News! I am staying in Kingston YSA for another 6 weeks!!! Sister Waal is being banished to Sudbury (its farther north and in the whole zone there is only one set of sisters) and Sister Lamb is staying here. I will be getting Sister Taylor as a new companion! I am super excited about this! Sister Taylor and I came out together AND I knew her back in Lethbridge! She is a power house and is exactly what this area needs :)

So because it's transfer day I'll have to keep this short cause Sister Waal still has to pack half of Norway haha

This is my highlight of the week :)

So back in November or December Sister Laing and I were walking home from an appointment talking to people on the street. We passed by our laundromat and saw a women standing there with a smoke. We stopped to ask her what the most important thing was to her. She explained to us that it was her family. We talked a little about that, got her number and gave her a card. Later that day we gave the elders her number to contact her and that was that. Yesterday I was able to speak at that womens baptism :) How amazing is that?! It is such a testimony builder to me that God is aware of ALL his children. It is no coincidence that Sister Laing and I just happened to be walking past her laundry mat when she happened to be out taking a smoke. I love that Heavenly Father can trust us to help Him in His work! It also makes me realize how important it is to talk with EVERYONE! You never know who is ready to accept the gospel :)

This is some food for thought

"I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He is my master, and He has chosen me to represent Him, to stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts. My words are His words, and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done, to say what He wants said, to be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvellous latter-day work. How great is my calling."

Every time I read it I get chills. When we were baptized we took upon ourselves Christ's name and in doing so promised to do just this. This does not just apply to missionaries with badges on, but to all members who have this precious truth! How great is our calling as members of Christ's church?!

"Hastening the Work of Salvation" Is More Than A Catchphrase (A link Sister Hall asked me to share)

Our District!!

laundry...

I'm sorry to be cutting this short but Norway is calling! I love and appreciate each and every single one of you!

Y.O.S.O

Weapons of Rebellion

Weapons of Rebellion

Before I begin I must get a few Shout Outs out (haha)

Grandma Kathy thank you so much for the gift card and the chocolates! They were SO good... so good that there aren't any left and I got them on Friday..... oops!

Thank you to mom for the package! I LOVE the skirts AND they all fit, its a miracle!

Thank you to Sister Bennett for the lovely card/letter I really enjoyed the haiku :)

and thank you to grandma and grandpa for the socks and the paper on how the church is doing! It was very interesting :)

I also want to thank everyone who has been writing me and sending me encouraging notes! They are a joy to read!

Now to the meat and potato's!

This week has been pretty busy trying to work both areas, but busy is what we like! We spend most of our time in the West area because they have more investigators than us. The YSA work is kinda suffering right now.... we kinda have 1 investigator haha but that's alright cause in just a short week we will have transfers and I'll get another companion and we can get to work at building up our pool of people!  

This week we tried out a new finding idea. We handed out free hot chocolate at a big bus terminal by a mall and did a survey with people entitled "Questions Of The Soul (its a good one!)

At first I was nervous cause I've never done it before AND there were going to be tons of people around which is overwhelming. Once we got there and had everything set up we stood there for a few seconds and then I grabbed a cup, filled it up, pulled up my socks and gritted my teeth and walked over to Gale. Gale didn't want my cup of hot chocolate, but she was interested in the message we had to share as well as wanted to know how she could quit smoking in 7 days a.k.a 1 new investigator! After that we found one other investigator. All in all it was an awesome finding tool. Giving people free stuff really softens the heart!

Cleaning out the nasty pot from the church for our hot chocolate!

This week we also had our skills and interviews with President Scott. Man is he ever inspired! I love getting to sit with him one on one and just pick his brain! For our interview this time we talked a little about how the transfer was going and then got into some of my weapons of rebellion. For this whole transfer I've been making a list of little things I do that may not be disobedient but keep me from becoming the missionary God needs me to be. What Pres. Scott and I talked about was keeping my eye single to His (Christ's) glory. Its not that I'm home sick or anything cause I'm not, but I find myself throughout the day quoting movies, breaking out into random song, being sarcastic, goofing off etc... Things that aren't necessarily bad, but I feel, and President Scott helped me to realize, are keeping me from becoming fully consecrated to this work. It may only be my pinkie toe that is back at home, but I didn't come on my mission to be Lauren Hall, but to be Sister Hall and that requires me to change a little. So that is what I will be working on :)   

We've been spending a lot of time with Jess this week and since her confirmation she has been doing wonderful! She has been growing in the gospel and it's such a joy to see :)

Line of the Week: Trying to find our way from Brampton to Kingston while on the phone with our elders after giving the elders THE vaguest description of where we were....

Elder Snelson: "Ok sisters you need to go 5 km north!"

Me: "... are you kidding me elder! There are NO mountains how am I supposed to know where north is?!"

Elder Dewey: "Haha that's so true"

Elder Snelson: "Ok sisters take your next exit..... what exit did you take?"

Sister Waal: "Don valley..."

Elder Snelson: "That was my first area! I know exactly where you are! Oh man elder, they are just about to pass the McDonalds that we ate at coming home from MLC."

Elder Dewey: "That McDonalds?! Oh man they are so far away! They aren't going to make it home till 12 pm!"

Me: "What the heck! You have no idea where we are! There is no McDonalds anywhere!"

Elder Snelson: "There's no point sisters, you might as well get back on the 401 and ride it bumper to bumper back home."

side note-> we made it home by 9:28

Scripture of the week: Jacob 4:10

"Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works."

A haiku for you:

Gods army

80,000 of them

strong and true

I love this work :)

Y.O.S.O

Sister Hall

Goodbyes and Hello's

Goodbyes and Hello's

So this week has been everything but normal!

Something that most of you don't know is that for the past month or so Sister Laing has been going through a really rough time. I am eternally grateful that Heavenly Father saw fit for me to be there with Sister Laing through it all. I love her so much! She has helped me immensely to grow in my confidence and my ability to be a powerful missionary. She has taught me how to rely on the Lord in all things and that He truly does hear and answer our prayers. After prayerful consideration Sister Laing received her answer that the mission she was called to serve was finished and that it was time to go home. After some long and heart felt conversations with the Mission President he gave her an honourable release and so on Thursday the apartmentship drove Sister Laing to Brampton and said our goodbyes. It was sad and I will miss her a ton but I know that this was right for her :) (Thank you Sister Laing for letting us include this WHOLE paragraph about how awesome you are in the blog this week:) Welcome home!! -J)

Our last road trip!

So with my companion gone what does this mean for me and the YSA? Well for the next 2 weeks I will be in a trio with Sister Waal and Lamb and we will be covering both areas!! It sure is different and takes a little getting used to, however, I am learning of ton from teaching with these 2 and am excited to soak in all I can!

As for my area, things have been pretty dead this week. I am thinking of dropping all our investigators by the end of the week if things don't change. I also haven't heard from Francis for a week which is stressing me out to the max! On the other hand Jess was confirmed this week!! YAYAYAYAYA! AND Jake got a new calling...... he is the second councillor in the sunday school presidency! SAY WHAT?!?! He is going to be amazing! :)

I had a cool experience with a less active we have been working with since October :) His name is Will and he is pretty awesome. We have been working with him trying to help him over come his doubts and to live the commandments. He has been making a lot of progress too! Anyways over the break I felt prompted to text him on New Years eve to see when we could meet with him next. Then I felt like I should send him a quick reminder about how awesome the word of wisdom is. We got to see Will for the first time since that text yesterday and he told me that just as I texted him someone handed him a beer and he was about to take a sip but instead he poured it out!

Thing I love about missionary work #2: Acting on a prompting and realizing that a prompting was an answer to someone's prayer

A little food for thought from my studies: Do you know why Satan was kicked out of heaven? Rebellion. He thought He knew better than God. When we pick and chose what commandments we will follow or chose to partially follow his commandments, we too are rebelling against God.

Scripture of the Week: 2 Chronicles 20:15

"... Be not afraid nor dismayed... for the battle is not yours, but God's"

A haiku For you

Sister Laing

Stronger than you think

bigger plans

Sister Hall

I got to see sister Ormond when we dropped off sister Laing.. prediction is that she will be the next sister training leader!!!

Sandwiches And Missionary Work

Sandwiches And Missionary Work

Shout Outs!

Soooooo happy belated birthday Jill!!! :D I hope the cruise was awesome and you had better have listened to the CD I gave you! Also Happy Birthday Uncle Darcy!!! Hope everything went well with the big wedding!

Also thank you to Winnie for the plant! I've named it Winnie and I will cherish it for the rest of my mission/life ;)!

Alright I don't have a lot of time today! Preparation day has been pretty crazy!

This week has been rather slow and strange. I only really have time to share one cool experience with you so I have chosen to talk with you all about Megan!

So Sister Laing and I are out tracting on Sunday night. This whole week we have had appointments fall through and on top of that Sister Laing hasn't been feeling the greatest so needless to say we were really looking for a miracle. We had been walking around not finding many people to talk to when I felt prompted that we should finish tracting some town houses that we had been meaning to get to for the last few weeks. The first door we knock on the sweetest girl named Megan opens up. We start talking with her and find out that she is Catholic and going to Queens and her new years goal is to think more positively. We chat a little more and I can just feel the spirit yelling at me that we need to get in that door (sweet, no pressure or anything!). We start talking with her about how we share a message about how we find greater peace in this life through a relationship with Christ and asked if we could share more with her. She was a little hesitant and I was scared we were going to lose her so I asked her what she took at Queens.... way random and I have no idea why I asked her but it turned out she was in the same program as Scott and she actually new him. YES! Then I commented on how sweet she was and how we would love to talk more with her aaaaaand she invited us right in! (Selling Girl Scout cookies sure pays off ;))

We sat down and talked a little more, we were struggling to find a way to begin talking about the gospel, but then about 5 min into the conversation she confided in us that she has a few struggles in her life (I'm being vague on purpose). Man the spirit filled the room SO strong! We knew why Heavenly Father led us here and I felt so over come with joy :) We shared the plan of salvation with her and she told us to text her in the week so we could set up a time to see her again. She thanked us several times for coming over and commented on how she loved how happy we were. I feel strongly that she is special. I feel that Heavenly Father has been preparing her for us and I am excited to see what happens!  

Also Dad I am WAY proud of you and mom! You should talk to the bishop about supporting Family Missionary Plans. One of the apostles talked about it the work of salvation broadcast. It would be a great finding opportunity for the missionaries in the area and a great way to get ward members more involved in the work! Look up the talk "the missionary next door" or something to get ideas :)

Line(s) of the week:

1. While looking up ways to share the gospel on LDS.org I came across this little gem

"Make an awesome sandwich and then share it."

I just about died laughing and that is my challenge to all of you! Go out and share an awesome sandwich with someone and figure out a way to fit something about the gospel into it. Please share with me your experiences! It will put the biggest smile on my face!  

2. In my email from Vanessa

Vanessa: "Miss the HECK out of you (Id say the other word but this is a holy email)"

man do I ever miss this girl!

Scripture of the Week: Alma 11:40

"And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else."

A Haiku For You

every monday

all you can eat sushi

Hall's mango chicken

Sister Hall

Y.O.S.O  

Out for lunch at Montana's and we drew the Plan of Salvation :)

Miracle On Concession Street

Miracle On Concession Street


Shout outs!!!! 

So my mom is crazy and spoiled me like mad this Christmas! Thank you for the wonderful Roots sweater and the mug and the scarf and all the other clothes you got me! I really love the shirt you got me from Joe! 

Jill thank you so much for the slippers, mitts, and scarf! They are SO cute and cozy! (notice I am already wearing them!)

Aunty Sue, a BIG thank you from the apartmentship for the mitts. They were a huge hit and they are SO warm! 

Thank you to the Summers for the Harmonica! I literally freaked out when I opened it and have been playing it ever day since... I'm not sure how happy everyone else in the building is with you, but I really like it :) I am trying to figure out how to play Nearer My God To Thee right now so if you can send me any helpful tips I'd love it! 

Kerry thank you for the Awesome book on how Awesome I am! hahaha! It is SO cute and I almost died laughing at the one Liz wrote :D 

This is from the ice storm that passed through. The trees are all covered in ice!  

So this week was a little slower due to the Christmas season, but that gave us a lot of time to just go out and talk with people which I really enjoyed! I think the best experience I had this Christmas season was talking to a guy named Steve on the street. It was pretty late outside and we were walking around Kingston when we ran into Steve on the street. He was outside a bar taking a smoke. We started out asking him what he thought the meaning of Christmas was but soon we found there was more to him then meets the eye. His life is kinda falling apart right now. He was a contractor for the building that burnt down on our street so he has lost his job, he has no family for the holidays and someone close to him passed away. He has lost all hope. As we talked to him about Jesus Christ and his Atonement, how we can be healed through him and have greater peace he started to tear up. I could see it in his eyes that this was exactly what he has been waiting for. I love being the answer to someones prayers :) We were able to get his contact information and said a little prayer with him before we headed off. Afterwards I kicked myself for not thinking to invite him to be baptized! It was the perfect opportunity and I know that he would have accepted! 

This is from a talk Elder Holland gave in the MTC and I really love it :) 

“I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? 

 .... I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

 If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

 When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  

Sister Waal and I got matching Christmas outfits... I couldnt help but laugh thinking of all those times mom had to force Jill and I into matching outfits.

Im running out of time so I wont have time for any of my normal send offs, BUT I wanted to give a heads up to everyone that pretty soon we will be aloud to go on facebook to share the gospel with our friends back home! I am way pumped for this! It would be wonderful if you could all start thinking of people who you might want to share the gospel with and when the time comes I would love to talk with them via favebook! SAY WHAT! :D 

LOVE YOU ALL AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Sister Hall

Y.O.S.O

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

Shout Outs!

Thank you to Tyler, Maddie, Amanda, Chelsey, James, Sara, Mable, Marina, Lucy, Janelle, Bob, Sister Spencer, Kim, and the Summers. I loved the little notes you all sent! You guys are way too nice though haha I might get a big head one of these days ;)

Thank you also to the Summers for the package! Once again you are way too generous and I am excited to open it on Christmas :D

Well to say that it has been a crazy week out here in Kingston does not to it justice!

To start off there was a huge fire on our street! It may have been on the news, I'm not sure but we were teaching a lesson in Tim Hortons by our place when people started talking about a fire and when we looked out the sky was full of black smoke! We stood there for a while not too sure of what to do and then noticed the poor crane operator making his way across the crane to the very tip! AH! So scary! As a result of the fire they shut off our power and evacuated us for the night. Sister Laing and I stayed at Sister Lenard's for the night. She has 3 hound dogs who weigh like 80 pounds and like to sit on peoples laps.... it hurt so bad! The next day we were able to go back to our place though which was nice!

Huge fire!! So glad the crane man is ok.

Just getting my study on at the members home with the dog.

Aside from the fire we also got a legit ice storm! It is SO cool! It reminded me of the ice storm that hit Jill when she lived in Texas. (Looks like the same kind of deal too -J)

->side note: Elder Snelson is also from Texas and he remembers that ice storm too...weird! He's from Huston I believe

Anyways it is pretty much an ice rink outside so contacting was a joy! But actually it was SO much fun! We would approach people on the street and nearly face plant in front of them haha great way to "break the ice" BAHAHAHHAHAHHA! It took us an extra 30 min to get anywhere and by the end of the night our legs were killing us but it was a nice change up from the regular routine.

Queens Campus in ice form

EVERYTHING Froze!!

We had an awesome lesson with Francis this week! We had a good old DTR with him to figure out what his expectations were with meeting with us (we tend to have a few of those a month it seems like cause he's not much of a talker). We found out that he doesn't have a problem with being baptized again and is willing to get baptized but that he first wanted to check out the church. We have taught him all the commandments and he is good with all of them so it really is down to just getting him out to church which has been a struggle. He did however say that he would come to church and we were so excited! Taylor told him that she would pick him up and everything!... then they cancelled church -_- which also meant that Jess didn't get confirmed... gah!  

->side note: I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but a few months ago Francis told us that there was a church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by his home back in Ghana and that one of his friends from his childhood was a member. Once he started meeting with us he found his friend on facebook and told him he was meeting with missionaries! His friend was really excited and told him to learn all he could from us and that if he had any questions he could ask him. Cool Eh!

DTR: Determine The Relationship (I learned this from Jill while she dated Tyson... apparently they had to have a lot of those) (Ooohh pahleeease!! -J)

Now the Best for Last! 

So I like really don't care for bus contacting. Like we walk to places so that we don't have to take the bus, however one night it was really cold and we would be late for an appointment so we had to take the bus. So we get on the bus and there are 3 people on it. 2 old people in the front and a what looks like a university student in the back. Sister Laing jumps on the old people and I make my way to the back of the bus. He has his ear phones in so I sit on the edge of my seat and ask him what he thinks the meaning of Christmas is with a big smile so he notices me. He tries to look away but we make eye contact. HA gottcha! He slowly takes his ear phones out and then we start talking. In no time he starts to open up about God and his beliefs. Then he stops and laughs to himself. I ask him why he is laughing and he says this is so weird cause he has been thinking about his faith a lot recently and really wants to over come his doubts. Then he admitted that at first he thought I was crazy and was trying to ignore me, but said he was glad that he took his ear phones out cause he really needed this!

BAH! Am I dreaming! Am I seriously having a successful bus contact?!

Turns out this guy plays basketball for Queens university and is heading home for the holidays but said he would be down to meet up with us when he gets back :D = new investigator via bus contacting what what!!

p.s his name is Tyrell and Winnie has already claimed him as "her investigator" haha

Line of the Week:

Elder Dewey: "Hey sisters we just wanted to check to make sure you all emailed your families telling them that you are safe from the fire."

Me: "Yep, sure did!"

Elder Dewey: "Awesome! Yea, someone's mom contacted president Scott asking if they were alright so we just wanted to follow up with you guys to make sure you emailed."

Me: "...Yea....that was my mom."

Elder Dewey: "What? Really! How do you know?"

Me: "I've had 21 years with her."

-> I LOVE you mom!!! :D (Mom is mortified!!!! -J)

Scripture of The Week: Helaman 5: 10

"And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins."

A Haiku for YOU:

He is born

to heal us from sin

our Brother

Sister Hall

         Y.O.S.O

Backing up Sister Waal

Ice Fishers Of Men

Ice Fishers Of Men

Big News Everyone, Transfer calls were last night and............. NOTHING HAS CHANGED! Haha that's right, all the missionaries serving in Kingston are staying the same :)

A few Shout Outs before we begin!

Thank you to..... The Aurinis, Sandra, Hannah, Lochlan, Chris, Darwin, Sue, and the Browns for the kind notes! I love reading them every morning :) It's a great way to start off the day!

Thank you to Aunty Sue! I got your Christmas package and the appartmentship is VERY excited about also getting a gift :) that was too kind of you!

Kerry, I am LOVING the 12 days of Christmas! We just about died at the reindeer nose!

Jill I got your package and I really want to open it!

I really do appreciate all the support my friends, family, and my ward family back home! It means a lot and really helps to keep a sister upbeat :D

Alright so first off, we have the best elders in the mission. Saturday night we had a decent snow fall and it got pretty cold so on Sunday we made sure we gave ourselves enough time to brush the car off and everything. So we get outside to find that not only is our car brushed off, but someone also shovelled a path to our doors.... later at church Elder Snelson kindly informed us that he stank and was supper sweaty from shovelling walkways this morning. It wasn't till a few hours later that Sister Waal clued in and confronted them. Elder Snelson has a really great poker face and denied everything but Elder Dewey cracked a smile within seconds.

Man I am happy to be staying with Sister Laing in Kingston YSA :) I am getting pretty attached to this area. We have the best YSA in all of Ontario, but seriously we totally do. I have gotten to know the best out of all the YSA, Steph and Rachel. I love them both to bits! They are spiritual giants and help our investigators leaps and bounds because our investigators are able to see that normal people are apart of the church and that it is a life style they too can have. Seriously some amazing testimonies come out of these two!

As for the work over, things are starting to slow down. All our YSA are leaving for home and wont be back till the 6th of January. Most of our investigators have been baptized as well.... looks like we will be pounding the pavement pretty soon here. I know Heavenly Father has kept us here for a reason, and I am excited to find that reason!

Right now we are working with Francis, Jacob and Chase.

Francis is from Gahanna and we have been teaching him for a while now. He was slow to progress at first but in recent visits things has started to change! He is pretty quiet so it's hard to gage where he is at but he told us that he is seriously considering joining the church. BONUS! Glad we got that cleared up, and it only took us 3 months ;) He also informed us that he has started to feel guilty for drinking coffee! He also has a date for January 11th!

Jacob is a new investigator who we have only taught twice. He comes from a rougher background and I am so excited for this gospel to change his life. It will be hard for him to open up and let the gospel heal him cause religion was pretty forced on him as a youth, but we talked about the atonement with him and we mentioned how all the guilt we have felt can be taken from us through Christ and I swear his eyes got a little shinny. I just hope that he opens his heart up! 

Chase we havent seen in like a month cause he is so crazy busy but we still keep in contact with him.

So that is your little sneak peak into Kingston YSA missionary work. We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this coming transfer!

Line of the Week:

Francis: "So would I need to be baptized again?"

Jake after looking at the both of us: "Ladies is it ok if I take this one? See Francis, when Joseph Smith found the plates....."

Jake proceeds to explain the whole apostasy and authority to Francis. I almost died of happiness.

Scripture of the Week: D&C 121: 40

"Hence many are called, but few are chosen."

A haiku for You

6 more weeks

oh blessed Kingston

we aren't done

Sister Hall

Y.O.S.O

Epic Fail!

Taking a nap on my Viking