Full House

New Address!!

#1, 651 Victoria Street

Kingston, ON K7L 3Z8

Canada

Full House

Holy Moly Kingston YSA! Man is it ever different out here! I'll be honest, I was a little worried coming out here. Not only was I across the mission and working with the YSA but opening an area means going in with no investigators to work with.... and I do love my appointments. Looks like Heavenly Father is trying to help me get out of my comfort zone! So Sister Laing and I make the 3 hour drive out to Kingston and we get to work. We start making cold calls to all former investigators. One of the first people we call is a girl named Jessica. The missionaries taught her once about 7 years ago when she was 12.... I probably wouldn't have called her to begin with but we weren't working with much so we thought it couldn't hurt. Turns out this was one of the best choices of my LIFE! Haha! She couldn't remember meeting with missionaries but said that we could come over the next day and share a message. WHAT WHAT!

Next Day (Wednesday)

We head over to Jessica's and turns out she is pretty cool. She has had a really, really rough life and has lived on her own since she was 14 or 15. I could tell that she was in need for some serious TLC which is right up my ally :) She has always wondered if there is a God but with all the things that have happened to her, well lets just say believing has been hard for her. We talked with her a little about God and taught the restoration of the gospel. At the end of the lesson we invited her to prepare to be baptized on October 27th and she said that she would :D She is absolutely wonderful and I can just see how this gospel will change her life, bringing a flood of peace and joy and love! I cannot wait for her to experience it!

Jessica and I got to share a tender moment together this week :)

She was sharing with us a little bit about her past and asked us why God had abandoned her. I could see the pain in her eyes and my heart went out to her. I was filled with this love for her and started to tear up a little as I shared with her my testimony of the trials we face in life and how it might seem like God has left us but He never does. I shared with her my own experience when I felt like I was alone and testified that when in those situations, if you chose to turn to prayer and just ask to feel God's love that He will wrap you in his arms.

That night Jessica sent us a text telling us that she had prayed and that she felt warm.

God truly is just a prayer away :)

Thursday

On Thursday we got a hold of a few of the YSA and met with them early in the morning.... Can I just say that the YSA out here put me to shame! Holy crow they are the best member missionaries in the whole mission! I'd even put money on it if it wasn't super apostate! There aren't very many YSA (only about 9ish) but they are all very close and super active. They really want the YSA to grow so that they can get their own branch. So when we got together with them they sat us down and told us:

1. All the people they are currently working on

2. All the less actives we need to reach out to

3. All the active members who would like to fellowship and go teaching with us...

My mouth literally dropped! Saying that I am excited to work with these people is an understatement!

I also contacted on a university for the first time.... that was a really interesting experience... once again I think this is God's way of putting me out of my comfort zone. My new goal is to get a bunch of investigators so that I never have to go contacting on the university again haha! Although it wasn't all bad. We got two appointments with exchange students from china which was pretty sweet! I feel like the way we will see success though is by working with our YSA- which shouldn't be too hard seeing as they brought 4 friends to institute tonight....have I mentioned how much I love them?!

On a different note, Queens University is the most glorious campus I have ever seen! It is absolutely beautiful! So pretty in fact that I would seriously consider coming out here for school! 

This is just a way nice building on Queens University... It pretty much all looks like this 

Sunday

This was one of the scariest and most spiritual days of my mission thus far.

So we go to church like any normal day and we are greeting the YSA as they come in. To our astonishment they have brought 5 friends.... that is 5 people who are not members of the church....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the WHAT! So I'm sitting in sacrament meeting having a little freak out on the inside cause I have no idea what the heck we should do! After sacrament we head over to the special YSA sunday school class. It is there that Sister Laing and I decide that after the class we will hold a separate class for all non members and any YSA who want to join in where we will answer any questions and share with them a little more about what makes our church unique.

After class we head over to the room to wait and see who will come. At this point I literally feel like I'm about to vomit because I have no idea how we should start this and we need to make sure that this goes well cause if it doesn't the YSA wont trust us with any of their friends ever again and it will be a very loooooooooooooonnnnng transfer!

So pretty much everyone shows up to the class (13 people) and we begin by asking if anyone has any questions. We start to talk a little about the Book of Mormon which leads nicely into the restoration of the gospel. This whole time the YSA are bearing powerful testimony about their own conversions and how they found out the Book of Mormon was true. The spirit was SO strong! The strongest it has ever been in any less I've ever taught. When we recited the first vision it was almost like getting hit over the head with spiritual bricks! Soon enough my fears melted away and I just got to sit back and enjoy watching everyone be taught by the spirit. It was amazing and a very humbling experience. At the end of the lesson Sister Laing and I split up and started talking with the PI's to make return appointments. Out of the 5 non members, 4 gave us their number and showed interest in meeting with us again....Oh.... My.....GOSH!!!!

THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!

Witnessing Heavenly Fathers work right in front of you = Winning  

Sister Laing and I were looking for an former investigator.... This is where the GPS lead us.... I kept hoping that it would tell us to continue driving into the lake...  could have had a Michael Scott moment! (its from an episode of the office)

Well that's all for now! Be kind and say your prayers!

Line of the WEEK: Contacting on Queens

Me: Hey what makes you most happy in life?!

Random Student #24: Sex and Alcohol!!!

Me (in my head): that's original...

Scripture of the Week: D&C 88: 63

This one might be a repeat, but this week I have really gained a testimony that anyone who is seeking God WILL find him :)

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

A Haiku For You

Hearts warmed

Hastening the Work

Hey Kingston

Sister Hall