Crazy week!

The first part about the weather is in response to our observation that it was 11 degrees warmer (33 F) in Moncton that it was here last night at 8:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m. his time), and our questions about the postal strike in Canada. :(

Hey all,

Yes, it's been nice and balmy here! It was just in time for our parade last week, before that it was around -20, but it jumped like 30 degrees that one day, and it has stayed pretty nice since. No, I haven't gotten anything yet, Zone Conference is tomorrow, so I should be getting everything that the mission office has. You're right, everything is taking much more time because of the strike. I didn't even know about it until we ate with some members, and she works at the post, and she told us about it. Hoping that it ends soon enough! 

Our week has been absolutely crazy. We had exchanges with the Hampton elders, Elder Bluth and Elder Jorgensen, which turned out to be pretty inspired. We had a really good experience, we picked up 3 new investigators on the exchange. Elder Bluth and I were going to try to follow up with the investigator the elders left us, because we haven't been able to contact her. We shoveled out her driveway, then went to go talk to her family. Her brother, Daniel answered the door, and let us come in. The elders had given him a Book of Mormon too, and he has been reading it ever since. When we asked what he thought of it, he said he's been reading a little slowly through it, he's only (only!) on page 480, because he's been enjoying it so much, and has been learning so much. He told us that he knew it was true, and wanted to be baptized. We were just absolutely taken aback, we invited him to be baptized the end of this month, so we'll see how that goes! He had two brothers that he went and got for our lesson, and they both want to read the Book of Mormon too, and be baptized. It was a straight miracle!

After our exchange, we went up to Bathurst to help in the parade there too. This time I was a wise man. It was cool to see some of the members again, and I ran into one of the former's that I taught there, so that was kinda neat. 

Sunday was nice, but Elder Willoughby got super sick right after church, and we had to spend the rest of the day inside. 

So yea, pretty cool week!

What do you think is your biggest challenge as a missionary, and what do you do to overcome it?

It's hard to say what my biggest challenge as a missionary is, but one of them is relying on the Lord for everything. That's one I've really had to overcome in my mission. I think at the start of my mission I had too much of an attitude that I could teach and convert someone to the gospel, but really that's not the case. It took some work for me to learn that even if I'm a good teacher, and do everything right, it comes down to what that person wants, and the spirit of God touching them and leading them. Learning that has brought me a lot more peace in my mission, because I don't have to be the perfect teacher, I don't have to know how to convince someone, because that's not what I'm doing. I'm just relying on God to change someone's life, and I get to watch it. It has helped me be a lot humbler, and have more faith and patience. I don't know exactly what I did to overcome that, I think talking with companions, praying, and a lot of frustration at people helped me realize that I needed to not rely on my strength but on the Lord. 

What inspiring thing can you share with us?

I don't know if I have something super inspiring to share, but as I was reading the Book of Mormon this morning, I think I recognized a bit more about Amulek's sacrifices. I've always loved Amulek, but I realized that when the wicked people were burning women and children, surely some of those people were Amulek's own family. How much more heartbreaking to think that the reason Amulek turned to Alma, asking to cease the wickedness, when we realize it very well could have been his own wife and children he saw. But despite his trials, he endured, relying on the promise from the angel, saying that "he and his whole house would be blessed." The gospel does certainly bless families, even when it leads to that kind of persecution and suffering. Amulek's example is pretty incredible. 

Love you all! 

Elder Marsh