A Week of Interesting People

So this week has been hard. It started pretty rough on Tuesday, when we were asked to switch cars with a set of missionaries from Red Deer.  Elder Liu really misses the Subaru, we have a Cruze now.  But we needed to replace a brake light on the Subaru before we traded, which meant we would have to trade after the other Elders went through the temple. Except they took two hours longer than they had expected in the Temple....  So we were waiting for a long time.  Add in a few more hours spent running errands, getting other missionaries their bags, and you end the day with us cancelling our appointment with Helen, a less active member, and both Elder Liu and I very frustrated.  Other than this, we have been trying to do a lot of finding this week. Our investigator Hugh was out of town this week with his parents, who came to visit and see Canada.  He came to church last Sunday, with their encouragement, but this Sunday he was gone.  So lots of finding on the LRT and buses...  We actually did find a Chinese guy from Dalian, so that was really cool for me.

We had a missionary meeting with our home ward mission leader this week, he is trying to help us work more efficiently with the Ward Council and so I'm excited for that.  Other things that happened this week: we had Family Home Evening with the YSA ward.  It was a sports night, so none of the Elders were dressed for it.  I ended up playing my first game of floor hockey - barefoot.  Everyone thought I was crazy.  But I wasn't even the only one.  And it was a lot of fun.  We had an opportunity for service this week, and as we were trying to park Elder Liu almost hit the car behind him trying to parallel park.  I stuck my knee in the way.  Both cars are fine, and my bruise is fading...  but it was alright.  We also had exchanges this week. I was able to work with Elder Jeffs, who is really awesome!  I understood almost none of the Spanish, so that was disappointing.  But I did have a great time talking to people and getting to know more people.  We went to their home ward on Sunday, so I saw a few of their investigators that showed up, and that was pretty cool.  I also had a chance to run into a few different experiences this week. First, a drunk man on the bus, who was going to get in a fight, and I was a little worried because he was right behind Elder Liu and I.  And then the other was a man we met walking to a members home. He told us about his family that wanted to make him Mormon, but he had a problem with alcohol. I don't even remember what I said, but I thought I set him off, he look surprised, and I thought he was going to get angry.  Instead, he ended up hugging me and telling me he loved me.  And telling the guy who happened to walk by.  He was definitely and interesting character.

Elder Liu and I are hoping this week goes significantly better, in terms of lessons at least.  We are going to focus a lot on finding, because we just don't have many people to teach.  We may start teaching Christine, a former investigator who we were able to shovel snow for this week.  Hopefully that will work out.  We are trying to contact former investigators, and see if they are interested, but so far not a lot of success.  As Elder Liu has been sick, I've been trying to busy myself in the apartment with something of worth. I put stuff on our map this week, buildings, investigators, Mandarin-speaking members.  Our area boundaries.  Hopefully Elder Liu feels better quickly,he has had some real trouble sleeping this week, so I hope he gets better.

Anyway, its been good, I'm doing well.  Warm and safe.  Missing you all!

Extra Bonus Exerpt From the Mom

T.J.seems to forget our questions when he writes to us, and we are left wondering about a lot of details. Today we played 20 Questions, which is a game where I ask him questions and he answers them. He participated, so Mom wins! 

1.   Did you buy boots? Yes, yes I did.

2.   Are you going to buy boots?   I hope you buy boots. It’s going to be a miserable winter if your socks get wet every day. N/A

3.    Do you have super warm gloves? They are semi warm, and keep me safe.

4.   I sent 3 pairs of socks to the mission home I bought them online from Marks in Canada. Did you get them yet? I will probably get them next week or so.  That was a really good idea to buy from Canada though, well done.

5.  What bedding did you get?  I have a comforter, and used sheets/pillowcase.  And 1 pillow.  I wish I had two.

6.   Are you warm in your apartment? Generally I am.  Sometimes its cold and it feels like the heating isn't really changing anything, like maybe we're just warm from the outside hall and other rooms being warm.

7.   What does your apartment look like? I will send a picture, maybe I have one.  Maybe next week.  It is very small.

8.    Do you want to build a snowman? Yes, but not enough snow.

9.   How does a car share work?  We get the car for two days, and then the other Elders have it for two days.  And it is very inconvenient.

10.  If you get a package at the mission home, how long do you think it would take for you to get it? 1 week or so.

11.  How long is your coat, and what is it made of? It covers my top, just comes down over my rear.  And I don't know what its made of.  Its a Helly Hansen, got it on a great sale.

12.  Do you need lots of Chap-stik? Mostly not, my lips are not dry. Its dry, but not really more than AZ.

13.  How much time do you spend outside during a day? Not as much as I would have thought. We had a few days we spent hours outside, and they were miserable.

14. How did your jiao zi turn out last week? Elder Liu makes the food, I just eat and sometimes do dishes.  He makes great Chinese food.

15.  How clean are you keeping your bathroom? As clean as necessary.

16.  How much have you been cooking for yourselves? Breakfast, most lunches, and we get fed for a lot of our dinners. This week, not so much though.  We have some frozen dumplings though!

17.  How many Mandarin missionaries are there in your mission? 8 elders, 2 sisters

18.  Do you have a good hat lined with Thinsulate fleece or something? Wool? I have no idea.  I just bought a hat.

19.  Is your bed a regular American twin size? Yes, it feels short, and I have a metal box sticking out of the wall at the head of the bed.  Every so often, I hit my head on it.

20.  How often do you teach English classes? I haven't taught yet.  They are held Wednesday and Fridays.  

The Adventure Continues...

So, another week in Canada.  I still don't think there has been two days peaking above freezing.  At least, that is what it has felt like!  Its a little crazy here.  Sometimes we have fun on the ice.  This is Elder Liu's first winter here as well, so that's wonderful!  His first time in snow and everything!  So driving is a little different.  Sometimes at night he'll ask me where the lane lines are....  Not scary at all... But really, he's pretty good.  We had our investigator Hugh at church today!  It was great because he prays during Sacrament, and it must be really powerful for him.  We tried to show him the Restoration video this week, but it wasn't working because his computer wouldn't let us play the Mandarin audio, so he just listened in English.  We found the videos on Youtube afterwards, but I'm a little hesitant to point people to search on youtube or google.  There is a lot of garbage that can come up there.  But I think he watched the video again in Mandarin/Cantonese which was great.

Another huge step with Hugh was something  we didn't even know about.  His parents came into town this week, and he wasn't sure about going to church. But he showed up, and after ward we learned his parents were OK with if not encouraging him to attend.  Which is a huge step for him, like it was really really awesome.  We also met with a Less Active Member, Helen this week, and she taught us how to play Bridge.  It seems pretty similar to Rook or Wizard, for the most part.  Elder Liu was still pretty lost, but we'll figure it out.  For now we are really just trying to build that relationship with Helen and hopefully invite her back to church and her husband to investigate.  Helen says she is having issues with the cold, so we're trying to work on that, but she and her husband are very smart, and very talented people.

We also met with Joe this week.  When we talked with him in the park, he asked why are there so many churches about Jesus, and we tried to discuss the Restoration, and prayer.  But he didn't really want to pray or anything...  He did end up taking the pamphlet though, which was good.  Elder Liu says that trying to check in with the people every day makes them feel pressured, but I am planning on texting Joe today to see how it went.  Hopefully he prayed, even though it doesn't seem likely.

Other than that, things have been pretty good around here.  We had a great to time in English Class and at the Ping Pong activity.  One girl showed up to the Ping Pong activity that was a provincial champion I think, either in China or Canada....  But she was ridiculously good.  She brought special Ping Pong shoes.... And she destroyed anyone that tried to play against her.  I will not claim to have played her, but I saw almost everyone else being beaten by her.  I think she'll come back next week, so that will be pretty cool.

Anyway, that's the week.  I hope everyone's doing awesome!

True North Strong and Free

So today's my first P-Day in my new home.  Edmonton has been freezing since the day I got here. But I'm told, its still comparatively warm to the rest of the winter...  Brrr.... Who decided to live here?  Just kidding, its pretty awesome here.  I've been having a good time.  I'll admit, when I first got here, things weren't really as I expected, I didn't understand how the missionaries were doing their work, and I was in a bad attitude.  But I had an experience on Friday, at English class we were playing a game with some of the students, and they were really impressed by honesty when I called myself out for messing up, and then I saw one of the students do the same thing later, so that was really cool for me, and I think that's when I started to understand why and how the Mandarin Elders here work.

There has been some tension with language Elders here.  We are being put into car shares, which almost all the missionaries hate, but I figure it has to have a reason for things to be the way they are.  So I guess its all going to be alright.  Driving in the snow is new for me and my companion, Elder Liu, so I am a little worried about that, but its been alright so far.  Hopefully we'll be safe.

I taught my first lesson in Chinese on Wednesday.  We met with Hugh, who has started praying and really loves praying and going to church, so that's really awesome.  He didn't make it to church this Sunday because he had a headache, but he said he would come to the YSA Family Home Evening tonight.  We are doing a cultural heritage night, so that's going to be interesting.  We are making Chinese dumplings and green onion cakes to bring and share, and will probably teach some Mandarin phrases.

Anyway, doing great up here and loving it.  Hear from you next week!

Elder Liu, Elder Ethington, President and Sister Manion

Borrowed a coat and hat from his companion

Elder Liu, Elder Ethington, Elder Sun (new from Taiwan this transfer), and Elder Karren

Selfie in the snow

So today is my final P-Day in the MTC.  Just a little crazy.  These last couple days have been a little bit of fun, and a little bit of sad. I will miss a lot of the people I've met here at the MTC, and I've been saying good bye to them for the past little bit.  I leave tomorrow morning at 2:30 in the morning (WAY TOO EARLY).  The rest of my district leaves today at 1:30, but I will still beat them to the mission field, which I think is pretty funny.  While Elder Wimmer is gone and I'm still here, I get to be temporary companions with Elder Mertz.  He's a really great Elder from the district just behind us (well, 4 weeks behind us...) so I am excited for that.  I am really sad to see Elder Wimmer going though.  I was really blessed with him as a companion.  He put up with a lot of stuff (see the Halloween costume pictures) and helped me with a lot.  And it was great to see him grow as we were here.  I will definitely miss him as we spilt paths.

This week, whether I was aware of it or not, I feel was a bit of a spiritual growth spurt for me.  After Elder Wimmer recited the First Vision and gave me such a clear witness through the Holy Ghost of the truthfulness of that account, I have spent the week seeking to grow that small seed of testimony.  Elder Wimmer also got to recite the First Vision in mission conference, which was awesome.  Partly because we got to sit in the front.  The plan was for all those reciting to sit on the front row and the companions to sit on the row behind them.  Since all the others reciting it were sisters, I was about to be in the second row with 6 sisters (Every single group was a tripanionship, until ours got split with Elder Eggersten joining....)  Not that I was going to complain or anything...  But things ended up being just a little different from that, which is alright.  I was just really happy to get that same witness again.  And finally, in the Temple this morning, I had the expereince where that need to know how everything works, and why that I feel makes so much of the difference in Math and Physics, just melted away, and I was able to just let things be, and know that somehow, everything works, and no one (definitely not me) can comprehend the mysteries of God on their own.  Anyway, it was just a great week, and great last huzzah with my current district.  I bought everyone a cream soda one day, and we got a picture by the Cream Soda Tree, named because it smells like Cream Soda.  Elder Wimmer and I also had the chance to bless the Sacrament this Sunday.... Only we do our meetings with the missionaries using "SYL" or trying to only speak their language.  Which, scarily enough, includes the Sacrament Prayers.  Now, because Chinese is tonal, thats a total part of the prayer, and  I was really freaking out thinking I would be up on the stand saying the same thing 5 times, and then finally, humiliatingly, and mercifully, the Branch President would let me do it in English....  but there were no issues.  Which I know was a blessing from God, because I hate tones.  Mostly.  I have been going to choir with Elder Wimmer, and its really fun. Its awesome becuase I like sitting by him, and he says I can match pitch (most of the time) so I just try to follow him, which is really kind of cool.  Anyway.  This week comes to a close, and a new adventure begins tomorrow.  A freezing adventure... Brrr.....

Elder Ethington

T.J. loved his district! Here they are pointing to the missions where they will serve. One of thses things is not like the others....
 Elder Wimmer, his companion for his 9 weeks of MTC training,  is right next to T.J.