Christmas Week Pictures

This is part of the collection of Legos we have been sending Tanner...something to keep his imagination working :-)

We assume this is the new church house where he is serving

 Scenery...

He finally sent us proof that he is REALLY in Canada :-)

Your guess is as good as mine...

Thieves! 

He loves sending us pictures which show the Canadian pride.

Missy was sooooo proud that he was actually out running!

Thanksgiving Dinner!

Thanksgiving Dinner...close up :-)

I don't think Tanner ever helped wash the car at home :-)

P-day soccer and Frisbee

Some Christmas cheer before he was transferred to Ottawa

Letter #21

22 December 2014 @ 11:58 AM

I would just like to start off by saying that it's hard to believe that it's almost Christmas, that it's almost 2015, that I just graduated at the beginning of this year, and that Heavenly Father has put so much trust into a young, fairly inexperienced and pretty awkward me. I'm so grateful for this time of year, for my family and friends who love me, for the amazing people in Ottawa, and for the greatest gift ever given to mankind: Our Savior and Redeemer, the Prince of Peace, The Son of God, and our Brother Jesus Christ. Friday and Saturdaywe were able to watch a live Nativity performed by the stake. This tradition attracted hundreds of people, many of which if not most were non-members. I forgot the cold as the many actors (varying from primary to. . . more experienced) depicted the prophesying of and the actual birth of the Lamb of God. It was a wonderful experience.

Earlier in the week we were able to visit some different members of our ward. We helped the Fongs move Saturday and visited them on different days (first for dinner, then to give Brother Fong a blessing, then again because I forgot my bag...). So the Fongs are a great family who love the missionaries. Brother Fong is half Asian, Sister Fong is half African, and their children are Ailen (looks more Asian), Seth (looks white), and Lily (looks more black). They're a fun family. I also met the Polynice Family, a recently converted Haitian Family. The youngest daughter we're trying to see if she's ready for baptism and we are working on helping the son receive the Aaronic Priesthood. They're pretty crazy, but we were able to have a good thought and eat some good Haitian food. 

Also, my District Leader who also shares our apartment wanted me to say Hi to you. His name is Elder Artica. He was born in Peru but his family currently lives in Provo. He's pretty great and crazy and is helping me work out better and play the ukulele.

Merry CHRISTmas to all of you and I hope you have a fantastic and fun-filled holiday season! Joyeuse Noel!

Elder Perkes

New pictures from his new apartment in Ottawa!

Actual beds...

 Bathroom...

New companion - Elder Bybee (and his messy desk)

Kitchen...

View of Ottawa from Steve's apartment

Letter #20

15 December 2014 @ 10:45 AM

So! Transfers. Fun stuff there. Monday was pretty normal p day. Tuesday was filled with good byes and a few pictures and then Wednesday was Transfer day. We were at the mission office early, around 10:00. The buses didn't leave until 3. So we hung out there for a while and I talked to some people and then I had to navigate through the metro with 2 large bags and one little bag and my backpack, so that was an adventure. They almost didn't let me on because I had too many bags apparently, but it was alright (there wasn't too many people on the bus). We didn't get to Ottawa until 8. So long day of driving and then just getting settled in. Stuff about our apartment: Elder Bybee and I live in a 4 man apartment with the Spanish Elders, Elder Artica and Elder Gonzalos. It's a little different. And a little messier. But it's fun. 

Our building has no 13 floor because the architects were superstitious, so that's cool. Elder Bybee is pretty cool. He dies (goes home) in August so he's been out a little longer than me. He plays the violin and was a model for Holister (he was a cashier and he wore Holister clothes and sometimes did photo shoots). It's pretty fun and crazy in a 4 man.

Thursday we went gift wrapping at the mall. People would come up and pay to have their gifts wrapped and all the proceeds went to charity. While there, a tv crew came up and interviewed the lady in charge and got a few shots of us wrapping gifts. 2 days later I had some members come up to me and say, "Did I see you on the 11 o'clock news last night?" So now I'm famous. . . Not really but it was pretty cool.

Friday we went and saw Meet the Mormons! (yes, it's here) We took a kind of inactive member named Steve. He lives in the same building as us so we visit him often. He's super nice but he just has some mental problems. But he came to church for the first 2 hours which was great and he felt great after Meet the Mormons. And we got Panda Express, which there is only 1 in Ottawa.

Saturday we played soccer with some non-members/investigators. They said I was a really good defender and I thought they were joking, but he meant it... Maybe I should take up soccer again.

Sunday was pretty good. I met a lot members and introduced myself in sacrament meeting. One guy, Brother Forsberg, said he had lived in Logan 40 years ago and a young lady, Sister Ericson, said she graduated from USU! Elder Bybee said there are actually a lot of people from Utah here. This new ward reminds me a lot of home. It's not a small ward, but it's not big, and everyone speaks English.

We'll see how it goes.

Elder Perkes

Letter #19

8 December 2014 @ 11:35 AM

So, this week has been pretty exciting, if I do say so myself.

On Wednesday we had a good district meeting where we turned it more into a cousel and we did our best to help all the missionaries in our district. After that we had an exchange! Except Elder Peery came to St. Jean and Elder Hunter went to Mont. St. Hiliaire... Which meant we had no car. Thankfully we had ride for the first part of the night. We taught a good lesson to Milena who`s right on track to getting baptised in 2 weeks. Then, after that lesson we walked... for 2 hours... in light snow... knocking on doors. Most everyone was nice-ish but no one really interested. But Elder Peery taught me how you can actually have a normal conversation at the door. So that was pretty fun. Got my exercise for the day. Then the next day Elder Hunter and I (after the exchange) walked Howie, the crazy dog that we walk each week. And we saw a car that looked EXACTLY like Herby/Herbie (don`t remember). We talked to the guy who owned it and gave his family a Il Est Le Cadeau pass along card. Then as we were walking back, he drove past us doing fish-tails on the snowy road. Pretty exciting.

Thursday was pretty great. We had the ward Christmas party. There was a lot of food and a lot of non-members there which was great! It was kind of awkward because there was one non-member there who we had invited her and her family, but her family was unable to come and she had NO idea what to expect. She was confused most of the night but we introduced her to some of the young women and they seemed to get along well. But it seems like many of our investigators are young women. Mylene, Milena, Alexandra... It`s really awkward because we are awkward 18 year old missionaries. . .

Saturday was pretty good as well. Elder Hunter and I decided to walk and visit one of our investigators and talk to people on the way. We walked for 3 hours.... Lot of walking this week. That night we had decided to visit a potential, but he wasn`t home. So we knocked around his house for a bit. We weren`t having much success but we had a few minutes left so we decided to say a prayer. I felt that we should go back. When we did, the potential was home! We knocked on his door and he let us right in. We had a great lesson that covered a bunch of basics and commited him to read the BoM and pray about it. His name is Alexandre and he has 3 boys that were running around asking questions about what we were talking about. It was fun.

Sunday Patricia was finally able to come to church after a couple of weeks of sick kids. After we were out tracting trying to find out if people had been on Youtube (if you didn`t see it, the He is the Gift video from the Church was the only advertiser on Youtube`s homepage on Dec 7, which was yesterday). We met this 88 year old man named Hebert but we both thought that he probably hadn`t been on Youtube. At first he said that he was too old to change and we were about to walk away, but I asked him about if he had done any geneology. He said he had and he opened up a little more and even let us in. He explained how his wife was sick and that his 5 sons came and visit to bring food and stuff. Then one of his sons showed up! And turns out that we had met his son`s wife at a store a few weeks earlier! Small world. We thought that we should leave and we gave Hebert our number and he said we could come back and visit if we wanted to and maybe mow the lawn in the spring time (we offered to do service).

Back to Saturday night. . .

TRANSFERS! Yes, that`s right. After only 3 months of being in St. Jean I am being transfered. To Ottowa. Where I will be speaking English (i`ll make sure to practice french still). It was kind of shock. And what`s even more funny is that Elder Hunter will be training another new missionary! So fun stuff all around. It`s been fun in St. Jean and I`ll be sad to leave it, but I`ll go where the Lord wants me to go. And if that`s English Speaking Ottowa, so be it.

sorry, Kind of a long Letter, but it was an eventful week.

Elder Perkes 

Pictures we found on FaceBook...

These were all pictures posted on Facebook by Pierre Nicole, 

someone from Tanner's mission who friended Missy. We believe that this was part of their "Social Media Splits" that they did last week.  He explains in his letter this week.

Elder Perkes and Elder Hunter making breakfast.

Elder Hunter and Elder Perkes on bikes...they had used up all their kilometres in their car :-).  We're curious why Tanner is wearing his suit and a coat with liner and his companion looks fine without anything else.  We hope Tanner doesn't freeze to death :-)

Elder Perkes and Elder Hunter praying for inspiration.

Elder Perkes and Elder Hunter discussing after a discussion.

Elder Perkes enjoying his missionary tag.

Elder Perkes serving breakfast.

Letter #18

1 December 2014 @ 11:45 AM

This week has been a little shorter than normal due to the Zone Conference on Monday and the P-day on tuesday, but it`s been a pretty good week too.

We were able to see the Samsons a couple of times this week. The lesson we had was a little rough, but we were able to save it in the end. Lise Samson (the wife) is pretty good at reading and she really has the desire to follow Christ. We`re still working on helping them receive a testimony of Joseph Smith, but they`re coming along. Thursday Morning we had our own Turkey Trot (that`s for you Mom). We ran about 25 minutes which to me seems a lot easier here than in Utah. Maybe I`m not running fast enough. Then we had a 2nd Turkey Trot that night. Sœur Hebert, a very nice lady in our ward, had made us some turkey, but we parked on the wrong side of her building. We were running late, so we decided to just run to the other side. She gave us the turkey and even said she had a friend that wanted to come to Church! so , we`re very excited about that, but still running late, so we «trotted» quickly back the car with the turkey in hand. Therefore, our second Turkey Trot.

That night we were supposed to meet a guy, but he was not home. So we did some calls and tracting for a bit and then went to English class. Unfortunately we didn`t do as much advertising as we had hoped, so the only one who showed up was Pierre Corriveau. To give a little background, Pierre met with the missionaries 25 years ago, but if he joined the Church it would have created conflict within his family, so he decided not to. Then few months ago he ran into Elder Hunter and Elder Williams and talked with them for a bit. He is super nice and into geneology. He already knows English but he wanted to help with the class. So, with no one else there, we decided to talk with him for a bit. We went Inside the the Church building and we just talked for a little bit about... a lot of stuff. It was so awesome to talk with him and really feel of his love for us and for Christ. He`s just a good guy who wants to help with anything. In the end he said, «I want you to succeed, I just don`t know why». He`s just fantastic.

So Saturday we had a thing called Social Media Splits. Three stakes here did it and the goal was to flood Facebook and Twitter and other things of such nature with pictures and videos of what Missionaries do from day to day. Kind of show that we`re normal people. We did some studies and some service and it was kind of a weird day, but we got through it. While we were preparing for this we watched a talk that explained how all technological advancements were created for the Hastening of the Lord`s Work. Social media is a fantastic way to spread the gospel. Sharing spiritual videos, uplifting pictures, favorite quotes and scriptures can all be shared with the world in seconds. It`s pretty amazing if you think about it. Can you imagine Moses or Néphi looking down on us thinking about this great tool we have?

Other than that, a pretty good week. We met some nice people contacting, Milena is coming along well with her testimony and Patricia and Mylène are continuing to grow in the gospel.

It`s sunny right now and the day is bright.

 

Love,

Elder Perkes

 

p.s.  I don`t remember if I mentioned this before but christmas.mormon.org has new video called He is the Gift. Check it out and Share it with #sharethegift

Letter #17

25 November 2014 @ 11:50 AM

 

Bonjour tout le monde! J`espere que tout va bien cette semain!

So, couple of things that happened this week:

I`m just about done with winter shopping! I got boots that are pretty nice and I think I just have to worry about sock and thermals now.

We`ve had a few good lessons this last week. We`ve gone through our area book some and we decided to try out some Former investigators. Most of them are pretty difficult to contact but we did start teaching 2 of them. It`ll be a little difficult but one is super open and willing to learn. We just need to work with his Schedule. His name is Richard and he has 4 kids that live with him every other week. He is really nice and open.

We passed by a potential this last week named David. He`s a boxer for the Canadien Olympic team which is sweet. We finally had a lesson with him (he travels a lot) and taught the Restoration. It went really well. We`re pretty excited for him. And we walked out of his appartment to a brand new layer of snow. It was really pretty. I wish I had had my camera.

Saturday we went to wedding! It was really small but really nice. It was at I played the piano prelude and postlude music so that was fun. They are a super nice couple and we`re just trying to help them all that we can.

Yesterday we had our Zone Conference. It was so good! We had lots of good trainings on using Familysearch and empowering each other and those around us. Also, they introduced the Christmas Initative! It`s called He is the Gift and it starts Nov 28. On Dec 7 the Church bought the Youtube Homepage banner to advertise it. It`s going to be so great!

I love you all and I hope you ar doing well. Sometimes, it`s hard to change. One thing I`m going to work on is finding things to change so that I can become better. It`s not easy or comfortable, but it will be for the best.

 

Elder Perkes

Canada Pride with Winter!

Canada Pride!

Pizza Canada Pride!

Halloween with the Bishop!

The snow has begun!

Letter #16

17 November 2014 @ 11:58 AM

So, some exciting things happened this last week. Monday I had cake for three meals (not just cake, but cake was involved). Not doing that again. But, Monday night, we aranged a new baptismal date for Patricia and Mylène! Unfortunately it is the same day as the Montréal Flashmob. But that will be ok with some awesome planning skills.

Tuesday we had trainer/trainee meeting. It was awesome! President Patrick and Sister Patrick gave excellent talks and testimonies. Mostly, we talked a lot about using the resources we`ve been given. The Church and Heavenly Father has given us all these resources (scriptures, pamphlets, videos, manuels, etc.) And they have been given to us for a specific reason.

Wednesday we taught the Restoration to Milena. We watched the video as well and she loved it! She has such a strong testimony of God and prayer. Hopefully she`ll stay on that right track.

Thursday we were driving home from an exchange (which went ok, except I am not the best at planning at the moment) and we saw 3 70ish year old ladies raking leaves. So, Elder Hunter pulled over and we got out to ask and she held out the rake and just kept saying «thank you! thank you!» It was pretty cool. We talked a little after about her. She takes care of this big yard for an old person hospital. We got her number and hopefully we`ll be able to teach her soon!

Friday we woke up to a couple of flakes of snow. Saturday we didn`t see too much.

Sunday, we were going to a Bishop`s fireside for the youth, but we stopped to help an older lady with her bags. At first she was a little hesitant but when we started helping her walk, she talked to us about her family and where she was from and different things. When we arrived at her appartment she said that we could come back some time and share the good word! cool stuff.

Then we come to today. It is snowing. A lot. Not blizzard and 2 inches of snow, but it is snowing and we are getting our tires changed today. Should be good.

One thing that I learned this week is to appreciate the little moments. The little acts of kindness. The Sunset. The city lights at night. The first snow flakes. And little moments with people. Yesterday I threw away some garbage for an old bent over lady who could barely walk. She just said, «nice boys» as she walked away, but felt so good to just do a little act of service. When life gets you down, look back on the good moments and what God has given you.

Hope all is well and that you`re staying warm (we`ll be trying)

 

Elder Perkes

p.s.

So, p day this next week is going to be on Tuesday because of Zone training. So don`t freak out when there`s no emailmonday. Just to let you know.

 

Also, last thing, this morning while we were doing some grocery shopping, guess what I heard? Christmas music. It`s beginning to look and sound a lot like Christmas here already

Letter #15

Monday, 10 November 2014 @ 11:38 AM

So, I`m trying to focus on some more spiritual things in my letters. It`s hard for me to write EVERYTHING that goes on because I look back on the week and it think, «Well, I was just doing missionary work. All these things are normal.» the hardest part is that they`re not. Anywho, spiritual things:

I realized how simple the gospel is. Heavenly Father truly does work by small and simple means to bring about great things. Satan just likes to throw in complications to confuse the honest seeker from the plain and simple truths right in front of him.

Wednesday we had our district meeting and the Zone Leaders came. It was fantastic. We talked about how the Lord really is hastening his work and that honest and sincere prayer help soooo much. After, we went to a little neighborhood and met Philip. He was getting out of his car and we stopped him and said he`d listen while he waited for his friend. We talked to him about the Restoration and he said that he was a little curious. Then his friend showed up and we said hi and bye and he left us with his number so we could set up another time. That night we had a little lesson with Patricia and we read throught Moroni 10 and just discussed what it talked about. She has a super solid testimony and we will be setting up a new baptismal date tonight! Exciting stuff!

Thursday we had delicious lunch at our stake president`s house (he lives in our ward). We had scallop potatoes, chicken, and a delicious salad. Then we had sorbet that came in the frozen shell of what flavor it was (ex. orange sorbet came in a frozen orange peel). American Joke from President Pirlet: What do Americans say for «Bon appétit!» ? 

«Good luck»

We had a good laugh about that.

Sunday we had ward conference. It`s still pretty hard for me to understand what is being said, but I get the general idea most of the time. In Priesthood we talked about missionary work, and how we feel when we do it. It was a little odd, but hopefully we can use that to spark more inspiration for members to do missionary work. There was a great big pot-luck after and I ate way too much food. I need to work out more. Then, that night after we had supper at Frere Lane`s house, we visited this family Samsons. Elder Williams, Elder Hunter`s trainer, knew their son and they had contacted them before and had supper there, but last night we talked and had a restoration lesson and scheduled a return date. They were very active in the conversasion and we are excited to teach them.

So, one thing I forgot to mention, for some odd reason everyone thinks that Elder Hunter and I are siblings. Not entirely sure why. But, it`s getting dark around 4:30 here and it is just getting colder and colder. We`re buying around 1 or 2 winter things each week to prepare. Next week we are going to change to winter tires. But we still bought some ice cream today. Sometimes good things do come from cold.

Elder Perkes

Letter #14

Monday, 3 November 2014 @ 11:59 AM

Quick burst of the week:

Last sunday I forgot to tell you that I did play the piano in sacrament meeting, and let`s just say I need some practicing.

Tuesday we made catapults with the one Young man who came and had a little party with him because he moved on Saturday. We launched a couple of candies and had a competition. I lost with 200 points and Pradel (the Young man) won with 700. That day we had gone tracting around an awesome family neighborhood and two Young kids coming home from school came up to us and said ``Qu`est-ce que vous faites?`` which means what are you doing? We showed them some pics in the front of the BoM. We just thought how awesome it would be to bring them to Primary, so we`ll definately go back.

Wednesday we met Akim, a guy from Africa who just took a BoM when we offered it. He left to Québec today, though, so we might not see him for a while. But we planted a seed. Thursday we had an awesome District meeting and we talked about how Good, Better, Best applies to Docterine, Principle, and Application. Knowing the Doctrine is good, understanding the Principle is better, but actually Applying it to your life is the best. Then, that night we had a lesson with Milena and commited her to a date for Baptisim! and her mom wants to start coming to Church and get the family involved! We`re super excited for them.

Friday was Halloween as well. We had to go in a little earlier because trick or treaters starting going out. Turns out, halloween is pretty big here. I saw quite a few houses with a LOT of décorations and we had an awesome party with the ward. And I ate too much candy. Good stuff though. Saturday we helped a family move ad then went to stake Conference. The Book of Mormon Musical is playing in Montréal and since it`s not really a Church function, they came out with some new pass-along-cards saying things like «the book is always better» and they are doing a flashmob near it as well. Unfortunately we are too far to be in the flashmob, but there will be videos and such. Also, they`re doing a big push in getting social media to spread the gospel, so that`ll be cool to get Rolling.

So, that`s that in a nut shell.

Funnies from St. Jean

Yes, that is a unicorn lawn ornament

A «bumpy road» sign that someone taped a boat on (thought it was pretty funny)

Letter #13

27 October 2014 @ 11:48 AM

Quelque choses that happened this week:

I bought a nice big coat and a sweet hat last lundi. The hat was $5 but the coat was... a little more. Also, we had an awesome lesson with Milena. She`s been having some troubles and has been feeling kind of down, but she always seems happy to see us. We had a great lesson on obeying the commandments and how it will bless our lives. On mardi we had mutual night. Only one Young man showed up so he carved pumpkins with the Young women while Elder Hunter and i baked some cookies (unfortunately we had some left over cookie dough and when we cooked it later in the week, we cooked them for too long :( ). At the district meeting on mercredi we talked about our favorite BoM missionaries and their attributes. I chose Samuel the Lamanite because he was Bold and Courageous but also pretty Creative. They kicked him out or the city, and I guess the wall wasn`t technically «in» the city so BAM! preaching with power. One thing that I want to try applying more to missionary work is using my own talents to talk to, relate to, and find new people. We also went on an exchange with Elder Peery and Elder Pilling (I went with Elder Peery to Mt. St. Hiliaire). You know what is super good? Fresh pinapple and vanilla ice cream. But vendredi was pretty awesome. We help a geneology night for members and anyone else. We had about 11 people show up, 2 of which were non-members. Not quite the turnout we had hoped, but hey, those 2 people got a good night. Then samedi was pretty good. Except that it was nice weather all day and then we got a flat tire. We drove to Frere Nicole`s house and went to a lesson with Milena again (it was awesome. She`s been reading and praying and has had all sorts of awesome spiritual expériences and she wants to get baptised! Woohoo!) But when we returned to Frere Nicole`s, it was raining, and we had to change the tire. But it was a good experience. But we`ve gotten rain here almost everyday now so that wasn`t too unexpected. Unfortuneately Patricia and Mylène were unable to get baptised on Samedi. It`s not that they weren`t ready, but there were some complications and confusion and doubts and prayers and spiritual advice and way too much stuff going on that it was unable to happen. When we first told Patricia, she was very dissappointed. But later she text us and said that everything is well and good and Heavenly Father knows what he`s doing and when the time is right. So we`re planning on 1 or 2 weeks from now.

So that`s the week in the nutshell! I hope all is going well and I`m so greatful for the Gospel and for the comfort and guidance and happiness it brings! It`s just so awesome to see the change it makes in people`s lives!

 

Elder Perkes

Letter #12

20 October 2014 @ 11:45 AM

So this week went by pretty well. Monday was actually Thanksgiving here, so that was fun. The Canadien Thanksgiving is not like America. Everything was still open and it`s more just a long weekend and you have a nice dinner with family and friends. We went to the Montreuil`s house and ate lots of food.

We`ve been trying to visit more and more members because tracting is no fun. But I feel like we are getting a better Relationship with the members here, now we just need to work on helping them do their own missionary work. Have I already said that everyone things we`re Jehovah`s Witnesses? Because it`s true.

But, some good news: Patricia and Mylène are going to be baptised this week! I can`t remember if I explained this or not but Mylène is the 2nd child of Patricia and is 16. We`ve done some planning and a little more teaching of commandments and stuff to make sure they`re prepared. We were a little worried about Mylène because she wasn`t always at the lessons with her mom, but with some planning, studying, and a LOT of prayer, everything looks alright for Saturday and Sunday.

We`re also planning on a Family History night on Friday. We keep being told to use Geneology in finding, so we thought we`d give it a try. I`ll let you know how it goes.

We`ve had a lot of rain this week and it just keeps getting colder and colder. We plan on getting some good winter stuff this week so that we don`t freeze. We`ve hear from a lot of people that it is going to come early, fast, and cold. I`m excited for snow and take lots pictures and to NOT get frost bite. Yay, winter!

 

Elder Perkes

Spiritual thought:

So, in personal study one morning I was reading 1 Néphi 17 or 18. It`s when Néphi is commanded to build the boat to cross the many waters. Here`s my thought process: God commanded Néphi to build a boat. When He commanded him, Néphi responded with where can I find the ore to make Tools. He had to find the ore, which he prayed to find. Then he made the Tools (which he went into some detail with bellows and such) and then he built the boat how God wanted him to. Pray, find the ore, make the Tools, build the boat how God wants. You can take this in a variety of different ways, but I just wanted to share that small thought with you all.

 

Elder Perkes...again

Letter #11

Monday, 13 October 2014 @ 9:54 AM

So, last week we decided I needed a haircut. We thought about going and actually paying $20 bucks somewhere, but then we got a $15 razor at Walmart and did it ourselves. I`ll send a pic and you can tell me how Elder Hunter did. Also, on monday at Walmart, we met a lady from Australia! she was with her kids and they had planned to stay in the US for 6 months (long vacation) and she came up to canada for a bit! Monday night we ate at Frere Lane`s house (our ward mission leader). We had turkey and rice and cheesecake. Frere Nicole (ward family history specialist who comes with us to a lot of lessons) came with us. They were discussing something and Soeur Lane said `ban voyons donc` which basically means `you gotta be kidding me`. But the way I discribe the Quebecois way of saying it is like saying bow-wow-ow-don very nasaly like you`re immitading a banjo. Fun stuff.

Milena: super awesome 16-year-old girl. We had a lesson on monday and she accepted the invitation to be baptised! super excited about that. She even came to church yesterday and had a super awesome spiritual experience when Soeur Montrieul talked about the importance of praying all the time. 

We met this guy named Babu on wednesday. He`s from Banglidesh. I just thought Babu was an awesome name. Also, we had a lesson with Vincent. He has 1 daughter and we met him outside his house one day last week. It was my first first lesson and it went pretty well, explaining the restorations and such.

Thursday was Elder Hunter`s Birthday so what was the best thing to do? Go out tracting in the pouring rain! It was super cold and rain everywhere but we met a guy who accepted a BoM and then as soon as we were done, the sun came out and there was a super awesome rainbow. Soon after the rainbow we went and ate at the Montrieul`s with Patricia and her family. Soeur Montrieul is the YW president and Frere Montrieul is the 2nd counselor in the bishopbric. They`re super awesome. After some enchiladas Soeur Montrieul brought out a Pikachu Ice Cream cake from DQ (Elder Hunter is a Pokemon fan. Frere Montrieul is also and kept calling him Elder `Haunter` if you get that reference).

Saturday we went to `rebirthday` party for Michelle, a non-member lady who do service for every week. She was celebrating 1 year of being cancer free. She and her friends are Bahais (I think that`s how it`s spelled). Her friends had a lot of questions, but we did find out how similiar Mormons and Bahais are (except for a few details). Some even excepted a BoM and said we could visit another time and teach some more.

Patricia is still doing awesome and we set up some stuff for her baptism in 2 weeks.

 

Sorry that my emails are a little scattered. I`m still trying to organize my thoughts and what I want to say. One day I`ll figure it out.

 

Elder Perkes

Pictures from the week...

Canada Pride - I didn't know there was such a thing as "Canadian Oats"

Elder Perkes showing off his Canada Pride

A birthday dinner for his companion, Elder Hunter

Tracking in the rain rewarded them with a rainbow

We had hawaiian haystacks at home a couple weeks ago and we really missed Tanner (they are his favorite).  But we didn't need to worry because he made them on his own. Nice haircut too :-)

Elder Perkes eating "Poutine" - a local favorite...we'll try to get him to send a recipe.

Letter #10

6 October 2014 12:07 PM

So, conference was FANTASTIC! But I`ll get into that a little later.

 

Monday: After emails last week I got my own Canadien missionary bag! It`s quite fitting and now I look more the part.

 

Tuesday: For mutual, Elder Hunter came up with the idea to put questions in balloons as a get-to-know-you game. One Young man popped a balloon and then everyone answered the question. We had 2 Young men show up... We`re hoping to get others, but it`s kind of difficult with there only being like 5 in the whole ward. I did, however, play the opening hymn for everyone. I was really rusty and made a lot of mistakes so looks like I`ve got some practicing to do. After Young men`s we went to a Executive priesthood Council meeting where I understood the general idea of what was being said, but not really much else.

 

Wednesday and Thursday: Most of our plans fell through with lessons because of various circumstances with our investigators We tried some good old fashioned door-to-door tracting which was ok. We met some nice people but no one was very interested.

 

Friday: We had an awesome lesson with Patricia and Frere Steglitz (2nd councelor in the bishopbric). Her baptism is in 2 weeks and we are super excited!

 

Saturday: CONFERENCE!!!! actually, right before conference we visited the Beyney family. They had some cousins with them that just live down the road. They fed us an awesome breakfast of apple pie, raspberry and apple cobbler, crepes with what i thing were apples, and mangos. It was quite delicious. I also had a foam sword fight with their 2-year-old son. It was very intense with him climbing all over the sofa and both of us pretending to die every 3 minutes. After the battle, we had a nice thought on what we had studied that morning. I had studied the hymn`«I need thee every hour». Turns out hymns are awesome things to study. I mostly got from it how we need to give up our pride and act in order to receive the blessings that he provides. Now to some exciting stuff about conference: the satelite was broken, which was a dissappointment seeing how we saw them trying to fix it earlier in the week. But some nice members lended a computer to hook up to the internet and Elder Hunter and I watched it in the clerks office. After the 2nd session the Priesthood had a pizza and ping-pong party which was awesome and then we separated. the French session was in the chapel and the English was in the relief society room. The Granby Missionaries came too and we were all very excited to see that the MTC missionaries were singing! Did anyone else see David Morley singing in conference???? I would think all of the parents of those missionaries would be even more proud. And one thing about conference here: with the time change we have it 2 hours later. First session 12-2, 2nd 4-6, and priesthood from 8-10. Long night of so much spirit.

 

Sunday: CONFERENCE ROUND 2 (parts 3 and 4).

So basically most of conference was fantastic. Helping the needy, follow the prophet, good choices. I loved it all and it was weird to think that at the same time in different parts of the world my family and friends and other missionaries were all watching the same conference. It brought back good memories of eating a sugary breakfast and sitting on the couch in my pajamas watching it on the TV in my basement. A little different in a small chapel in St. Jean (which is where we watched).

 

Today: The highlight of this morning was the Poutine! It was so good. I might just have to by some poutine sauce (yes, it is a special sauce) to send home.

 

Being a missionary is crazy! I love it and I`m so grateful for Elder Bednar`s talk. He basically told the world exactly what were doing and why. It was suer great. I hope you all listened and took some good stuff home. In our Mission conference last week we had a little quiz at the end that consisted of 2 questions: 1. What did you learn? and 2. What are you going to change?

I hope you are all doing well and I pray for you. The mission is awesome! It`s rough and tough and weird buying groceries for ourselves but hey, it`s the life.

 

Elder Perkes

 

Sorry no pics, no time today.