tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40839459995739125382024-03-13T00:24:01.096-07:00Elder Tanner Perkes MissionExperiences, letters, and thoughts from Elder Tanner Perkes'
mission to Montreal, Canada.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-55737368627859110912016-04-10T19:53:00.000-07:002016-04-10T19:53:10.212-07:00Pictures <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sugar Shack</div>
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Food!!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqJxaI1ST_m4QQtwPsWnCCmEpEkL84LUVP-0hT36g19i4ibDOKhEo6Jg0wejc54sNOBfxvKvWNbfPM9wVjfm_UDbVmQL5UOAU6TBcSl9LMgsDRYAT4q2lku3zHvtdESBbhMDKnh-X2HMx1/s1600/DSCN1736.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqJxaI1ST_m4QQtwPsWnCCmEpEkL84LUVP-0hT36g19i4ibDOKhEo6Jg0wejc54sNOBfxvKvWNbfPM9wVjfm_UDbVmQL5UOAU6TBcSl9LMgsDRYAT4q2lku3zHvtdESBbhMDKnh-X2HMx1/s320/DSCN1736.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Look at those slippers.</div>
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Rimouski</div>
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Newest Compaion</div>
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Lovin' the sugar shack.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-6895893996444520132016-04-10T19:37:00.000-07:002016-04-10T19:37:38.780-07:00Slacker Parents #76-#83#83 April 4, 2016<br />
"Short But Sweet"<br />
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I hope you all are doing well and happy with life and such and I hope you all had a great week!</div>
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This week was a little slow. Elder DiReda and I were back and forth with not feeling well and just little bugs that come with this time of year. But we're doing ok now and we've got some plans to shape up this week and work a little better.</div>
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We've been able to visit a few less-actives and one who is has been returning to church for a while now opened up to us a bunch and expressed her desire to get her patriarchal blessing and go to the temple and what is holding her back. She has a plan to get ready and we just need to help her along the way and it'll be great!</div>
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Probably the biggest thing this week was the same as many of yours. GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!</div>
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So many good talks and so much spirit was felt, even if the people downstairs were blasting crazy party music. We only felt the bass, but when I only focused on the talk, everything sorta melted away. It was great. 4 of my favorite talks were Elder Nelson's and Elder Uchtdorf's from the Priesthood session, Elder Christofferson's from <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2030693760" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> Morning, and Elder Holland's from <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2030693761" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> afternoon. So many good things on life, fatherhood, the priesthood, the truthfulness of the church, the wonderful power of the Atonement, and loads more. President Monson's talks may have been short, but they still left an impact. Choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. If we are faithful, we will have rest, but for now, we've got to push and pull and work to earn that rest.</div>
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I hope you are all doing well and I hope you will all read and re-read these conference talks.</div>
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I love our prophet and I know he is the mouthpiece of the Lord in our day. I know that what he, his counselors, the apostles, and all the general authorities say is true and right and that if we abide by them, we shall earn our great reward.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#82 <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">March 29, 2016</span></div>
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"Sugar Rush"</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Hello Everyone and I hope you had a wonderful Easter week! Ours was pretty good.</span><br />
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On wednesday we were able to meet with 2 of our investigators, Sarah and Noemé. They are friends of a recent convert, Mark, who currently lives in Texas but grew up here. They're pretty cool, but I haven't really seen them too much to give much more info...</div>
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Saturday we went to a Cabane à Sucre (sugar shack, for you anglophones) and it was SO GOOD and then SO BAD. Mark came up to visit his family and he loves missionaries (and he already knew my companion from when he visited during Christmas) so he took us to his mom's cousin's cabane à sucre. We get there, hang for a bit until we get our pallets, which were basically little wooden utensils that look like chisels. Then the people set up these tall troughs filled with snow. Then, the people come and pour hot maple taffy into the snow and you stick your pallet into the taffy, roll up and stuff your face. It was so good and they just kept coming back. My companion decided to stop after a little bit, but they people kept coming and so I kept eating. Then, after they cleaned that up, we all went inside the cabane and they handed out plates of maple butter, and we just ate it like that. The cabane itself smelled so much of delicious maple that I could feel getting a sugar high just walking in. And then eating the stuff was just delectable. After that we started our way home. I lasted for about 10 minutes before my stomach finally realized that I probably shouldn't have eaten so much maple sugar. But it was worth it.</div>
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It is currently snowing and is quite windy. But, not super cold. It's actually been pretty nice temperature wise.</div>
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A fun thing that I've started doing is scripture trees-chain-things. Basically I take one scripture, write a brief, one-line summary and look at the footnotes. Then I take those, and do the same. I repeat for a 2-4 layers until I don't have any room on 1 sheet of paper to fill them. I've received some cool insights from it. So, if you're bored from reading one day, I suggest trying it.</div>
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Other than that, not much. Just doing our best to work hard and find people to teach.</div>
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Hope you all have a great week!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">"Stupidity is to grab what you can. Intelligence is to grow so much, there is no need to grab anything. That is intelligence. Stupidity is greed. On a broad enough scale it becomes evil. If you ever wondered what evil is, it is stupidity on a large scale." Billy Mo</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">"Oh! ayez de la sagesse! Que puis-je dire de plus?" Jacob </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2030693768" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-size: 12.8px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">6:12</span></span></div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2030693768" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-size: 12.8px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">#81 March 21, 2016</span></span></div>
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"Goin' Way up North"</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Hello everyone! How're y'all doing?</span><br />
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So, this week was a bit crazy. Lots and lots of travelling. Tuesday was filled with good-byes and packing way to late than I should've been. Wednesday we were supposed to wake up at 5 but the alarm didn't go off so we woke up at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2030693769" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">5:30</span></span>, rushed out the door so we could be in Kirkland by 7. From Kirkland we met up with our Zone leaders and Elder Harter and I took a train to the metros, each of us carrying our own luggage. Fun stuff. He got off one stop before me and so I had to get through the metros with my 2 giant suitcases, a carry-on, and my ukulele (you know, the important stuff). Thankfully I had some people helping me getting up and down stairs and such. After arriving at Berri-UQAM metro station, I waited a bit for my bus. There were 2 other missionaries going up to Quebec, so I didn't feel totally alone on the 2 hour and 50 minute ride up. We arrived in Quebec and I met my new companion, Elder DiReda from Kaysville, Utah. He's been on the mission for about 6 months. We stayed in Quebec city that night and went on spits with our District leader and his companion, Elder Noorda and Elder Morris (I went with Elder Morris, of Texas). It was a fun night. The next day we went to district meeting and then to Chocolats Favoris. For those of you who don't know, Chocolats Favoris is SUPER GOOD. I Ordered 2 ice cream cones (just normal vanilla soft-serve) dipped in a delectable chocolate fondu. One was Crunchy Hazelnut and one was Maple Vanilla chocolate. SO FLIPPIN' GOOD. I will be going back. Then Elder DiReda and I got to make the 2 hour drive up to Rimouski. We have a lovely little branch of about 10-15 active members, who are super solid, and a whole lot of work to do. It's going to be an adventure up here in the north.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#80 March 14, 2016</div>
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"Off to Never Land"</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bonjour à tous!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">So, this week was not super exciting, but it had some fun moments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">We had our Zone Training Meeting on Wednesday. It went well. President Patrick gave a good training on how faith is our duty or loyalty to God and Jesus Christ, and that faith is action and power. We also discussed about how to see the vision, make plans to acheive the vision, and set goals based on those plans. We also were able to watch the new Easter Initiative, #Hallelujah. It's another great video set up by The Church. Afterwhich we went out to lunch with Cedric, Elder Navarette, and Elder Shumway. We were originally going to go to burger place that Cedric had told us about, but then he suggested a chinese place that was closer. It was SO GOOD. We each ordered a plate and then everyone shared what everyone got. We had fried rice with shrimp, noodles with chicken, lots of yummy sauces and vegetables. It was delightful. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, so I'll have to steal the picture from Elder Shumway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Saturday we got a call. It didn't come completely unexpected. It comes every 6 weeks. That's right, you guessed. Transfers. And guess who's leaving? Yup. After 6 months of being here in little ol' Hawkesbury I'll be shipped off to the great north to a little branch called Rimouski. I've heard they have lovely sunsets. I've also heard that I'll have an extra month of winter. And that in the summer the sun will set around 10 at night. It's about 2 hours northeast of Quebec City, which is about 3 hours northeast of where I am right now. So I've got a long ride up. With only 4 and a half months left, I'm assuming that I'll be finishing my mission up there. It'll be an adventure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm so thankful for the opportunity to serve here. I've learned a lot. I have a new appreciation for everything I have been blessed with. My family, my friends, my health, my toys, my home, my talents, my heritage, my hair, my future, my memories, my trials, my happy moments, my life, my Savior, my Father in Heaven. I don't know why I've been so richly blessed, but I become ever more thankful for it everyday. The age we live in is wonderful and the knowledge we have of this plan is precious. I hope we all can be quick to remember our God and for the miracles he has performed. I'm so thankful for the Savior, for his love for us. I'm thankful for the power of the priesthood and for the temple. I'm thankful to be a missionary, though at times I don't see how much I really do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thanks for your love and support and I pray you all will have a wonderful week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ciao,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Elder Perkes</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">#79 March 7, 2016</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"Praying for Spring"</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">This week has been quite tiring. Monday night we had to help a member move out, which was no fun with a little bit of snow and we were the only ones able to help out. Thankfully the truck was big enough and it only took around 2 hours. After that we had to help shovel Mike's mom's yard, which was a pain because it mostly icy snow that was quite heavy. The next day we had to help ANOTHER guy move, but this time we had to move him out and in because he was still in our area. It took between 4 and 5 hours. And again, we were the only ones able to help out. Both nights I was very happy to go to bed. The next morning, being Wednesday, we had to help the guy move a little bit more because we weren't able to finish it all the night before, and then we had to drive straight to District Meeting. After that, we went on exchanges. Elder Keller stayed with me and Elder Sorensen went with Elder Harter. It was quite a day. Half the day was spent shoveling different driveways. But we had a pretty cool experience on the way to a lesson. We had scheduled a lesson with an investigator who lives almost and hour away by car. About 10 minutes out, I remembered that we had wanted to start calling right before we left because sometimes he had forgotten our appointments and we drive down and he's not there. So we call and. . . He's not there. So we decide to call back </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2030693771" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-size: 12.8px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">10 minutes later</span></span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">, just to see if he's in the bathroom or something. We call and. . . He's not there. So I think to myself that it's probably the best idea to turn around. But then Elder Keller suggests that we say a prayer. So he prays and the whole time I'm thinking that we should turn around. But as soon as he's done, we both had the thought to move forward. So we did. 10 minutes before we arrive, he calls us saying that he had just gone to the store and that he hopes that we're still coming. It turned to be a great lesson and the Spirit was very strong. So thankful for prayer.</span></div>
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That's the biggest story of the week. There have been a few other members who have been having some struggles that we're doing our best to help out with. It's pretty warm and it's supposed to get really warm the rest of this week. I see signs of an early spring here in Canada.</div>
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Have a great week!</div>
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#78 February 29, 2016</div>
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"Don't go scuba diving with King Noah"</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Dear People of this Universe and Aliens who may be reading in,</span><br />
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This week wasn't too out of the ordinary, but I do have few stories that I'd like to share.</div>
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First one happened during District Meeting this last Wednesday. I had assigned Sister Shaver to organize a role play that she had done before on her mission. I didn't really know what to expect, so I just let her run with it. I turned the time over to her and she started off by giving each of us a small slip of paper that had a number between 1 and 3, if we were the investigator or the missionary, and some instructions that we were to reveal to no one. I was the missionary and I had the job of teaching the first lesson by using a scuba diving analogy. I was paired up with Elder Keller (the number 3 determined our pairing) and I started in without any preparation. As I started to relate the Restoration to Scuba Diving, I started to realize that he felt uncomfortable. I asked him if he was ok and he said that he had had an experience that didn't make him feel comfortable about talking about water. Feeling nervous, I related how Prophets are like instructors who teach how to dive safely and that our gear is like the tools we have to follow Christ and stay safe in this world. The mood changed and the short, 5 minute role play ended ok. After, he revealed that his paper said that he had had a near-drowning experience that left him with a terrible fear of water. I thought I did pretty well for the situation, but when he was asked how he had felt at the beginning he said, "I was freaking out!" It was pretty </div>
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Story number 2:</div>
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So, we've been working with this old less-active member who is very old, has a bit of Alzheimers, and is pretty catholic in her ways. We've been reading in the Book of Mormon with her and we were in Mosiah where they start talking about Kind Noah and his wicked priests and their wives and concubines. After reading, she started going off on how they should not have printed it and that if they did it back then why are they saying it don't do it now and this and that and it was all very confusing and we were trying to explain to her that this was a BAD example. That these were BAD people so we know what NOT to do. We even tried explaining that it's kind of like learning about Hitler! It was a bit frustrating so we did our best to explain and then the conversation kind of trailed off. Whew. So tiresome sometimes.</div>
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The last story I'd like to share is our new investigator, Lornie. He's nice old fellow who we had contacted on the street a week or so ago. He got his number and address and were able to meet him in his apartment. He's a religious man who's not affiliated with any church, believes in Christ and His teachings, and likes to pray. We tried our best to teach the first lesson but it was very hard to stay on topic. We were able to stay on gospel related subjects, we just don't think he understood it all. But he accepted a Book of Mormon and said we could come back as long as we teach what Jesus taught. He's nice. I hope it all works out.</div>
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Anywho, I hope you enjoyed those stories for the week and I hope that you're all doing well. Remember who you are, read your scriptures, go to church, say your prayers, be safe, love thy neighbor, etc. etc. and have a great week!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#77 February 22, 2016</div>
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"Swampy Winter"</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Bonjour tout le monde!</span><br />
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I hope your weeks have been good and warm-ish! Because the weather here has been crazy. It snowed several times this week and most of them ended with rain. We had to shovel 2 or 3 times this week and when we did it at night, it was basically shoveling the swamps of the arctic. Heavy, wet, gross, and icy underneath. So...fun...</div>
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Anywho, our first grand excitement was our splits with the Zone Leaders. The missionary council people up in Salt Lake decided that splits would be better if the leaders always stayed in their areas and the other team would come to theirs. This means that both Elder Sorensen and I went to Kirkland and stayed the night for our splits. It was quite the adventure, especially when, as we were driving to Montreal, they called us and said they had locked their keys in their car. [face palm] Thankfully they got them out when we arrived, but their car was covered in ice from the freezing rain. It ended up being a good split. Nothing too exciting. We visited this one lady who had a cat with those weird opposable thumbs. Yup. At district meeting the next day, it went well. Nothing to exciting there. Sister Shaver showed us how she can play Called to Serve by dialing on their phone. Who needs apps when you've got a Rugby?</div>
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We've been doing some contacting and we've got a few potentials that we're excited for. We also went to this tiny little restaurant that our branch mission leader recommended. It's this super small mom 'n' pop restaurant called Chez Marie. Super good fries, awesome burgers, and all for a decent price. We'll be going back soon. We even got to talk to the owners a bit and got to explain a little bit about what we do. They asked us where we're from, why we're here, how long we're staying, do we have girlfriends, etc. I don't know why that last one always seems to come up when we start explaining who we are. [shrug] After eating there we had b-day party for one of our recent converts. It was nice with cake and ice cream. Plenty o' sugar to keep me up half the night.</div>
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So, we're truckin' on through this odd month of February. But spring will be here soon. That'll be nice. Winter is fun and all, but we could really do for more sunshine.</div>
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Have a great week!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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Article of Faith 9: <span style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: "palatino" , "palatino linotype" , "pahoran" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 25.2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span>We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.</div>
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#76 February 15, 2016</div>
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"Sick and Frozen"</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">So this week started off with Elder Sorensen getting sick on probably one of the worst days to get sick. He wasn't feeling Monday night, so he went to bed early. Tuesday was basically a day full of service. Every Tuesday we volunteer at the food bank from 9-12 and there's always something to do there. Right after that we drove to move some wood for one of our investigators and that was a pain because a lot of the wood was frozen and so we had to hit it with an ice pick to get it unstuck. Then we went to Chad's sister's house where we did a little bit of service for her and her boyfriend. They were very nice and we talked with them and Zak, the boyfriend, asked lots of questions and complimented how down-to-earth we were for being so... I don't know... Religiously active? anywho, as a little thank you he gave us each a fancy salt and pepper shaker. After all that, Elder Sorensen was pretty worn down. So we cancelled just about everything else for the day so he could rest. The next day, he was still kind of... slumpish. So he rested some more. We did, however, help Elianne shave Prissy, one of Ann's 5 cats, later that day. She...looks...so... ...different. But, we got it done. And just in time for Ann to come home! Yay! She has been in the hospital since the end of November and now she is finally back with her cats. It has been quite an adventure with her but we hope that it will all be good for a little while. Friday we had our Zone Training Meeting in Montreal which was quite nice. After, Elder Sorensen and I were able to get our interviews with President. It went well. We had a nice little chat and we found out that he has seen the new Star Wars. 3 times. Yup. And our Valentine's day was spent frozen. It got down to -24 C (-11 F) and a ton of members had car problems getting to church. But we still had a nice Sunday. A little after church, we went to Brother Keith's house, where we played pool with Chad and had mac n cheese and chicken strips for dinner with fortune cookies for desert (his wife is out of town helping their family in Florida). One of my fortune cookies had 3 fortunes in one cookie. They all said 'spoil yourself a little'. I then had 3 more fortune cookies.</span><br />
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Nothing much else this week. Have a good one!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-66094106183700904192016-02-11T14:52:00.000-08:002016-02-11T14:56:48.738-08:00Back at it. Letters #68-#75#75 February 8, 2016<br />
"My companion broke the window"<br />
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Dear Everyone,</div>
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How's it going? It's getting colder here but it has been a pretty warm week. Monday we helped a friend of Mike's son move and the weather was perfect. Sunny, a few clouds in the sky, with only a slight breeze to cool us down. I had to roll up my sleeves at a few points so I didn't get to hot. So much for a Canadian winter. Oh, well, I shouldn't complain too much. It's supposed to get really cold these next few days.</div>
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Let's see... Tuesday was pretty great. We started working with a roommate of one of our older (in meeting with us, not in age) investigators. The new investigator is named Johanne (not to be confused with the Johanne who just got baptized). She has a real desire to know the truth and this second lesson we had with her she had read almost 90 pages of the Book of Mormon! Quite impressive [yes, yes. Quite]. She a had few question which were easily resolved with some discussion and after a lesson on faith, repentance, baptism and the Holy Ghost we invited her to be baptized on the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1623113692" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">26 of March</span></span>and she accepted! She then told us she wasn't expecting it all to go so fast, but she said that she'll make it a goal. She's already good friends with Bro. Proulx, our branch mission leader, and so that's pretty cool. She seems to progress well and we'll have another lesson this next week.</div>
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Another great thing that happened on Tuesday is that we were finally able to meet up with Ashley again! He's been a little bit under the weather because he's been sick and not feeling to good mentally, but we'll be starting to meet up with him again some more. He's super solid and ready for baptism, we're still just trying to find a way to get him to church... But we're working on that.</div>
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Wednesday was an adventure in the morning. We woke up to find a thin layer of ice. Everywhere. On the car, the roads, the snow, the houses. It wasn't too thick and it started warming up later in the day so driving and such wasn't too dangerous. We made quick video of what looks like Elder Sorensen smashing the window on our car (it was actually the layer of standing up with the window rolled down) We've showed it to several people. So far 1 missionary and 3 members have believed Elder Sorensen actually broke the window. It's been great. But shoveling that day with all the slushy snow was a pain. Super heavy with ice stuck to the driveways. We went home and slept happy that night.</div>
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Other than that, not too much happened this week. Visited members and less-actives, trying to help them feel the spirit, trying to cheer them up, service, more service, and planning. So much planning. But that's missionary life! It's great.</div>
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I've been trying to do some self-improvement lately. Well, I know I should be doing it all the time, but I think this next week I'd like to do a little more. I just need to get into a better habit of finding things I can work on then actually making a plan and then working on it. Probably the hardest thing to do is to come up with a solid plan that I know that I'll do. You can always make a plan to make a plan, but when you make one and stick to it and do all in your power to make sure it gets done, that's when the improvement comes. So that's my goal for this week. Coming up with a plan for something I want to improve in missionary work or just in my personality. And then I gotta make a plan to keep on doing that throughout my life. So you could say I'm planning on planning to make a plan to help me plan better. Now plan sounds funny in my head... I hope you all know how much I love and miss you all and I hope all is well in wherever you are!</div>
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Bonne semaine!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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This video may not work :(. I'll keep working on it.</div>
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#74 January 25, 2016<br />
"Another email from your friendly neighborhood me"<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyU2gnxnUeP0RAgpHrIH6l3GYorAugQNPwbzPYmjPxPRl7SDUH5YZhVdk_wQYCw8WMnOV7r6LxPpe7F4vd2bGIB1UXi0vH7cTO6BMCEODp6UdQgpW611LOknwDXT2cmdEHO79h7pQM02z2/s1600/DSCN1736.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyU2gnxnUeP0RAgpHrIH6l3GYorAugQNPwbzPYmjPxPRl7SDUH5YZhVdk_wQYCw8WMnOV7r6LxPpe7F4vd2bGIB1UXi0vH7cTO6BMCEODp6UdQgpW611LOknwDXT2cmdEHO79h7pQM02z2/s320/DSCN1736.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Hello all you people who read my emails, tune into my un-updated blog, or just happen to stumble across these words through the magic which we call internet.</span><br />
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This week was not uneventful, for events did happen. One of which was the grand Missionary Broadcast which was watched by all the missionaries in the world. Funny to think how we were all watching the same thing at the same time. It's like we all live under the same sun or something.</div>
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It was quite a nice training. It basically went back to the basics that we all learn the first 12 weeks on the mission. It refocused us on our purpose to teach repentance and baptize converts. I thought it was wonderful and I picked up a few things that I personally could work on the upcoming weeks. Then the day after we had our Mount Royal Zone Conference, where we basically went over the things that we had learned the day before, but more applied to our zone. President Patrick gave a great training on justification and sanctification. Becoming rather than just doing. Really and truly consecrating ourselves to the Lord. It's a little easier said than done, but then again, that's basically what this life is about. I highly recommend studying it a bit, starting with D&C 20:30-31. I really enjoy comparing it to the sacrament, but when you think about it, it can relate to many things in the gospel.</div>
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Probably the next best thing is that Johanne is doing well. She's having a few struggles (as normal) but she is staying as positive and ever and it's contagious. No complaints there.</div>
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Our branch president right now is pretty awesome, too. He's a wildlife/nature artist, is pretty buff, does races such as the Gladiator (look it up. It's boss), and is just all around an awesome guy. We had supper at his house, and it was great.</div>
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Thanks for your prayers, your support and for your dedication in reading my emails even if they are not the most exciting in the world. But I hope you enjoyed it. If not you may send complaints to my secretary, Joey.</div>
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Have a great week!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#73 January 17, 2016<br />
A Quick Update<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU2fYUMYuAIvO0ikazk4DYXtKh2K46S4kAs72TGP0t-XAjCYIhPUB6oGMoSdoiOXRml-xAU_ZflWIglFsK5oE8WBSq9pLPXF8ElgvzWCFNgnhFsSSfS6MK32y8ZLGyLuXJPHRUMRj9Nupk/s1600/E+keller%252C+e+harter%252C+s+shuerch%252C+s+rawlings%252C+e+sorensen%252C+moi.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU2fYUMYuAIvO0ikazk4DYXtKh2K46S4kAs72TGP0t-XAjCYIhPUB6oGMoSdoiOXRml-xAU_ZflWIglFsK5oE8WBSq9pLPXF8ElgvzWCFNgnhFsSSfS6MK32y8ZLGyLuXJPHRUMRj9Nupk/s320/E+keller%252C+e+harter%252C+s+shuerch%252C+s+rawlings%252C+e+sorensen%252C+moi.JPG" width="320" /></a> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">This week was pretty great! Johanne got Baptized! [applause] There was a nice light snowfall and we even saw 3 big turkeys in the parking lot while filling up the font. The actual baptism was bilingual, which was fun. We sang in French and English, had a talk in French, the actual baptism was done in French by Elder Udave, the first missionary who taught Johanne (he got permission from President to drive an hour from Laval to do the baptism), the 2nd talk was in English, and the confirmation on Sunday was in English. It was great. Johanne is so awesome. 2nd miracle of the week: we visited our newest investigators, Yan and Marie-Eve, and we were going over the Restoration in a little more detail. But before that, I had asked them what exactly they expected from us, or what did they expect when we knocked on their door. Then Marie-Eve explained that just before, they had been in an argument. They were wondering where was the love from when they were first together. They just didn't feel the same towards each other. Yan asked for a sign or something to help them become close again. Then we knocked on their door. I was like, NO WAY!!! In my head, and a big smile came to my face and I was even a little bit shocked because I was not expecting that. We then explained that that is one of the central points of our message. The Gospel bring families together. It was just a really cool experience and we are very excited for them.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUxkOHll5i8R_CZweVDZsXo6M1FeXh5eE56FkgAhQwB02DKY20Bna3c3yg8D8BmveEgOT8sXD_JgutC9wuyvReqJeDWO-9hhe8axc63ZqrLsU7JGNHIgtE_V17EAyTgJ_WHRVH1Y00qFDw/s1600/Us+and+Johanne+after+the+baptism.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUxkOHll5i8R_CZweVDZsXo6M1FeXh5eE56FkgAhQwB02DKY20Bna3c3yg8D8BmveEgOT8sXD_JgutC9wuyvReqJeDWO-9hhe8axc63ZqrLsU7JGNHIgtE_V17EAyTgJ_WHRVH1Y00qFDw/s320/Us+and+Johanne+after+the+baptism.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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#72 January 11, 2016<br />
"It's Raining, but It's Good"<br />
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How's it going in your various places across the world? Doing good up here in Canada. Things are a abnormally warm but most everyone isn't complaining. It's better raining than being -40.</div>
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So, this week has been a bit stressful but had some good peaks as well. </div>
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There have been a few people in the branch that have been going through a rough patch and so we've been doing our best to help them out where we can. We as missionaries can only do so much and it's a little frustrating when we don't have the time, talent, or resources to help more. But we do our best and give God the rest and we'll be blessed through this mess...ed/t. Rhyming.</div>
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Anywho, we also had some success finding 2 new investigators! Elder Udave, an elder who used to serve here, said that he had knocked into a couple doors and remember that they were open to have missionaries back. So he text us and told us to try them out. We knocked on the first one and... they weren't interested. So we tried the second one and the let us right in! I was a little shocked but once we got talking and stuff we were able to share a quick restoration lesson and give them each a Book of Mormon. It was a young couple who, we found out as we were leaving, were just engaged the day before. It was a little funny because we were getting ready to leave and we were talking about who-knows-what when the girl said, "Ya, he proposed to me yesterday on my birthday." It was little like <i>Wow! That timing.</i> And we awkwardly said a few congratulations and it was good. </div>
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The most bestest thing this week though is Johanne passed her baptismal interview with flying colors! She is on track to being baptized this Saturday! So this week is going to be lots of planning and preparing and we are quite excited for that.</div>
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Thanks for all your support and love and I hope that you all have great week!</div>
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#71 January 4, 2016<br />
"Christmas was Green, but New Years..."<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_AxbEtjY4h2j2YU1rOrXd1rSwjrs_bDecjgUtYiLEASg-WT7c94bYWS5ixgITw-7CyygA6vjLFTcQcgPtP4eg6nqnwoWyMXsGadmXTsj0FWFonA6_t5HjvKkMZZ6h4v8bsfNw_S7JLBl/s1600/DSCN1681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZw829RbLh71gW5gxEZcFnLMj7yaMmA1ikDOV2Lyf3HbYr_Acsxgm5QfKHP1UwIh74S44Faj4W7f5xDKyDQVSY0PMa3loH4B70RU9nlm70IqiNhh8KBuhm1dISo9NOqaFuRKAC5g92_2Jz/s1600/DSCN1697.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZw829RbLh71gW5gxEZcFnLMj7yaMmA1ikDOV2Lyf3HbYr_Acsxgm5QfKHP1UwIh74S44Faj4W7f5xDKyDQVSY0PMa3loH4B70RU9nlm70IqiNhh8KBuhm1dISo9NOqaFuRKAC5g92_2Jz/s320/DSCN1697.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Well, the snow is finally here. Canada has finally shown true colors and it is blue and white. Cold, and Quebec.</span><br />
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Tuesday we had a HURGE storm. It snowed at least a foot and we shoveled 3 different driveways and we had to shovel a few of them again 1 or 2 days later because of other smaller snowfalls. It's been pretty fun. We got our work out for the day, had a snow ball fight, and shoveled some more. Tuesday we were also able to meet with Johanne and she has a baptismal date! [yay!] We will be having her baptism in 2 weeks, on the 16th. We are super excited for her because we have been working with her for a long time and ya. She has made some big strides in her faith and we are very excited for her.</div>
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Probably the next biggest thing is that we have been working with one less-active family for a long time. They are very nice people but they all have some personal challenges they need to overcome. This week was particularly stressful for the father. He has some mental challenges that leave him tired and not at his peak. It was very difficult this week and so we needed to visit him several times in order to help him out. It was a bit stressful for me as well because there really isn't much that we can do to really help him besides try to strengthen his faith and then refer him to church leaders for more assistance. So, we've been doing our best to help him. He was always very grateful for having us over.</div>
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Other than that not much has been happening. The snow is coming and the temperature is dropping, but thankfully I've got my boots and my coat. Hope you all have a great New Year!</div>
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"But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_AxbEtjY4h2j2YU1rOrXd1rSwjrs_bDecjgUtYiLEASg-WT7c94bYWS5ixgITw-7CyygA6vjLFTcQcgPtP4eg6nqnwoWyMXsGadmXTsj0FWFonA6_t5HjvKkMZZ6h4v8bsfNw_S7JLBl/s1600/DSCN1681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_AxbEtjY4h2j2YU1rOrXd1rSwjrs_bDecjgUtYiLEASg-WT7c94bYWS5ixgITw-7CyygA6vjLFTcQcgPtP4eg6nqnwoWyMXsGadmXTsj0FWFonA6_t5HjvKkMZZ6h4v8bsfNw_S7JLBl/s320/DSCN1681.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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#70 December 28, 2015<br />
"The Pie Wasn't the Only Thing Filled"<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Merry Christmas to All! And a Happy New Year, too!</span><br />
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This week has been a pretty good Christmas week. Probably one of the most exciting things was our Mission wide conference we had on Tuesday. It was filled with lots of musical talents such as organ, piano, singing, flute, and violin. Our opening hymn was AMAZING. With over 170 people singing Joy to the World, it's pretty powerful. And then our closing hymn was even MORE. The first 2 verses were sung by a small missionary choir, a piano, and the organ (played by my previous companion Elder Shumway) and then everyone joined in on the 3rd verse of Hark the Herald Angel Sing. IT. WAS. AWESOME. To say the least! It was so powerful and solid it was almost tangible how amazing it was. I even heard that some people even started to cry. And then all the wonderful musical talents in the mission were just unbelievable. And the next best thing that day was when President Patrick made a pun. We were talking about three paradoxes of Jesus Christ: He was perfectly obedient, but was patient with others and their disobedience, He was the perfect example of a leader and a follower, and He was the one who showed the example of finding oneself when losing oneself. It was very cool. But the pun was: "We are going to talk about 3 Paradoxes. Paradoxes are 2 truths that don't seem like they should work together, but they do. Now, that is not a Pair-o-ducks. That's just 2 ducks." It was pretty funny, if I do say so myself.</div>
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The rest of the week was filled with my stomach being filled. Christmas Eve we went to Sister Kelley's house and had turkey, pork, chicken curry, and beef. Christmas day we were able to skype our families (which was AWESOME. Can I just say that I love my family? I'm pretty sure I have the best parents in the world. And my siblings are pretty cool, too <img alt="😀" class="CToWUd" data-goomoji="1f600" goomoji="1f600" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/e/1f600" style="margin: 0px 0.2ex; max-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle;" />) and then we had turkey, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and punch at the Gordons. THEN the next day we skyped Weston, formerly known as Elder Pryor, and had a nice big supper at Mike and Elianne's. It was turkey, ham, potatoes, biscuits, veggies, pigs feet stew (which is actually quite good), 4 different pies, 3-4 different types of cookies, and a log cake that was very nicely decorated. So, Christmas was good. I hope it was as good for all of you as well. And with all the craziness, I hope that you all were able to find some time and really think about the Why of Christmas. Jesus Christ and his birth and life. I love our Savior and I'm so grateful for Him, for my family, for my friends, for the good people in my life, for those who are here and for those who are gone, for a wonderful country to come from, for a wonderful country to serve in, and for a billion-trillion-gazillion other things that I could list.</div>
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I'll talk to you all next year!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#69 December 21, 2015<br />
"Good Bye Bon Fire"<br />
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How're y'all doin' t'day?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRau-B-zj4tcW7Rg8CsdVfolHtBSedWuqzRSzyEeM-hl86TQZWH6qmqRlsHjOr1p7f_wwWGSFZUMH0HRwk2_Zhz7NJh8-tjeFgxgqjk-k1Y4G2x5ATLZSmSGYa1fsY60h2bqVp_XXP0f62/s1600/The+last+poutine...of+e+pryor.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRau-B-zj4tcW7Rg8CsdVfolHtBSedWuqzRSzyEeM-hl86TQZWH6qmqRlsHjOr1p7f_wwWGSFZUMH0HRwk2_Zhz7NJh8-tjeFgxgqjk-k1Y4G2x5ATLZSmSGYa1fsY60h2bqVp_XXP0f62/s320/The+last+poutine...of+e+pryor.JPG" width="320" /></a>This week was filled with good byes. On Wednesday we said Good Bye to Elder Pryor as he was shipped back to Orem where we expect to hear a wedding announcement by Valentine's day (not really but it's fun to tease). The day before we said Good Bye to Pizza Pizza, a popular pizza chain of Canada. You see, as we were on our way to another family that Elder Pryor was going to say Good Bye to, we saw large amounts of black smoke coming from a yellow building. So, we pulled up and walked carefully where we saw some people trying to quickly move a white trailer. We then noticed flames coming out of the ventilation shafts. When we saw that there was nothing we could do, we did what any good by-stander should and got some photos of the scene. Then we proceeded to say more good byes.</div>
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Other than that, nothing much. Elder Sorensen is recovering from being sick, I get to start playing the piano for Primary (that's for you Mom), and we finally got some real snow that actually stays on the ground today.</div>
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I hope you all have a great Christmas! I'm so grateful for this wonderful occasion where everyone is a little kinder, a little happier, a little better. I hope we can all get past the stresses of Christmas Shopping and really take some moments and be truly thankful for the Birth of our Savior. I love the gospel, I love Christmas, and I love you all!</div>
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Joyeux Noël!</div>
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#68 December 7, 2015<br />
"A Cheap Roof"<br />
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The Christmas Initiative A Savior is Born is awesome! Not just the first video but all of them! I just love Christmas. And because it is now December, we can now listen to Christmas music and not feel silly! So yes, that makes the week a little better.</div>
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Monday we were able to do some Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping. Basically we went to a store where lots of stuff were 20-40 percent off, they told us that everything also has an additional 15 percent off, and we all bought stuff. I got a nice $45 dollar sweater for 28 bucks and Elder Pryor got a nice $300 coat for $170 or so. So, good start.</div>
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Tuesday we were able to help Doug, a returning member, move. He's been going through a lot but he's doing his best to come back to church and really have the gospel more in his life. Because of financial stuff he had to move in with one of his buddies, so we helped him move a lot of his stuff into a storage unit. He also had a couple buddies help move. It was actually pretty funny. We were cleaning out his living room and I can't remember why, but for some reason we all started making funny southern accents using y'all and such and one of his buddies said something like, "We all sound like a bunch of Americans in here!" And then as he and I were moving a tv into his car he made a comment about how he doesn't really like talking to Americans because he finds they're a too selfish. I don't think he realized that we missionaries were all Americans and I was going to make a funny comment like, "We're not THAT bad, are we?" But then I forgot. . . But the move went pretty well.</div>
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Nothing super exciting until Saturday. We had planned to help fix Mike and Elianne (part member family) with their roof. They had been able to get all the shingles and supplies donated from a company that our branch president works at, they just needed the man power. So we had planned to do that and then leave a little way through to go to our other appointments. Then all our other appointments cancelled, and it turned out to be a HUGE blessing. They really needed the help with the roof. There was only 3 branch member who were able to help and they really needed the help. We ended up staying the whole day, putting up shingles, nailing shingles, cleaning up old shingles. We started at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1623113684" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">9:30</span></span> in the morning and stopped at around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1623113685" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">7:30</span></span> at night, well after dark. It was a VERY long day, but I learned quite a bit about roofing. It was fun. That night we made some Borscht, a Russian stew that Elder Pryor found. It was delicious. </div>
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The Christmas Devotional was SO good last night! I loved President Uchtdorf's talk. I'm so grateful for this Christmas season and for the beautiful music that comes around this time of year. I'm so grateful for the birth of our Savior and for His life and ministry.</div>
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So, it has been a good week.</div>
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Happy December! Go out and carol a bit.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-38543090058310487812015-12-01T13:17:00.000-08:002015-12-01T13:17:02.056-08:00Letter #6730 November 2015<br />
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Dear Everybody,<br /></div>
How's it? Doing good here. Getting darker and getting colder but that's Canada.<br /></div>
So, this week had some exciting highlights, but the rest not super interesting. . . </div>
We were able to have a great lesson with Johanne, our most progressing investigator at the moment, at the Library with Sister Kelley, one the best member missionaries out there. We went over a little bit about the Book of Mormon and recognizing the Holy Ghost. Johanne really wants to get baptized. She feels that it's the right thing to do and we are so excited for her. Later that night we went to Sister Kelley's house for supper. It was CRAZY! We just love playing with her 5 boys. They are so fun and full of energy (they're all under the age of 12) and I must have "died" at least a dozen times from zombies, fire, magic, nerf guns, and bortsch (a common Russian dish. Don't ask how it came to be).</div>
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_382271306" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday</span></span> we were able to do some service for Margaret and then return later for supper. Our original plan for Thanksgiving was to make a chicken (the turkeys were too big for the 3 of us) and get all the stuff for a classic Thanksgiving supper (potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, stuffing, and pumpkin pie and rolls). But we were happy to have a nice dinner with Margaret and her 2 kids and their roommate Johanne (investigators). Actually, it had been Mireille's (oldest girl of Margaret) birthday, and so we half celebrated that. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_382271307" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Tuesday</span></span> we had stopped by with a plate of cupcakes and a birthday card for her, but she wasn't there, so we left it with Johanne. The problem was that Margaret's mother was there. Let's just say she is does not share our beliefs and didn't really approve of us. We got a text the next day that asked us to remake the card and I was like, "Oh no, what did she do?!" We found out <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_382271308" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday</span></span>before dinner that Margaret's mother had thrown away the cupcakes and the card before Margaret, Mireille, and Philippe got home. I was a little disappointed, but I made sure to make the 2nd card even better and, looking back, I just think of how silly the whole situation was. And then <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_382271309" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Friday</span></span> we made our thanksgiving dinner.</div>
The next exciting thing was <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_382271310" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Saturday</span></span> night, I believe. We had just gotten home and Elder Pryor was sitting in his chair. For some reason, Elder Sorensen decided to start throwing a volleyball at Elder Pryor's knees. Every time, the ball would ricochet off his knees and back to his hands and he would say, "Yes, again!" And throw the ball again. Then, about the 3rd or 4th time, the ball went a little higher, hit Elder Sorensen in the face, and bounced onto his table with all his study material and knocked half of it off. It was perfectly. . . hilarious. We all were dying on the floor and my chest hurt from laughing so hard. It had been a while since I had laughed like that and It was just too perfect to be true. Yay for the 3 stooges.</div>
The last thing I'd like to mention is this year's Christmas Initiative. #ASaviorIsBorn. I felt the spirit so strong the first time I saw it and again when we showed it to our ward. This is so amazing and I'm super excited to use it. Truly this is inspired work. The invitation at the end is for everyone: Discover Why. Why is it so important that a Savior was born? Really think and ponder why it is so important to have our Savior. Study and discover what you can do help your testimony grow as well as the testimony of those around you. I pray for you and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season. It's only beginning!<br /></div>
Elder Perkes<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Alma 26:12 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Yea, I know that I am nothing ; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things ; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-60228386721132302932015-11-29T20:32:00.001-08:002015-11-29T20:32:20.792-08:00Latest pictures...November 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
One of Tanner's Companions - Elder Pryor (doing service)</div>
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Making dinner...</div>
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Not really sure about this one...</div>
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Having two companions in a small apartment.</div>
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Second companion - Elder Sorensen</div>
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These year's Christmas Tree..."The Beginning"</div>
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Hawkesbury Chapel</div>
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Elders Hernandez, Shumway, me, and Smith on Saint Denis</div>
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Nicholas and me playing hockey.</div>
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Hawkesbury Chapel</div>
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Bandanas are too much fun!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-58036100732212288532015-11-29T20:08:00.000-08:002015-12-01T13:17:59.678-08:00We are bad blog updaters :-) Letters #55-#66#66 23 November 2015<br />
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Hello-Bonjour!</div>
How's everybody doing? Good, I hope.</div>
This week hasn't been super eventful, but we did do some good work. Tuesday we had our Zone Training meeting and our interviews with President. We talked a lot on things we could work with teaching and stuff. Everyone was also having interviews for their temple dedication recommends, so our actual interviews took a little bit. But it was fun talking to some other missionaries that I hadn't seen in a while.</div>
So, through the week we've been seeing our investigators and they seem to be doing pretty well.</div>
Johanne: She is a single mother with 3 daughters, but only 1 lives with her. She wants to be baptized as soon as possible and she was hoping that she could before Elder Pryor left, but we're not sure if that would be possible. She seems to be getting busier and busier. But we are helping her and she has a real desire to do what the Lord wants her to do.</div>
Ashley: Ashley is a single guy who lives in a group home. He's trying to get his life in order and has a strong desire to be baptized. He's working on quitting smoking and drinking coffee, but the biggest problem is that he lives an hour away from the church and anybody else who could give him a ride. So it is difficult for him to come to church, but we are helping him with what he can do.</div>
Friday we were able to go to a birthday party for one of our members. He was turning 12 and is autistic, but he is super funny. We love to play around with him and his party was Jurassic World themed. It was super fun to eat with them and talk and pretend like we were watching dinosaurs. And he LOVES Legos! So we brought a little gift for him.</div>
Probably the most exciting part of the week was the Temple Cultural Celebration and Re-dedication. It had dances from all sorts of different cultures that make up Montreal and I even saw some youth from my previous areas. It was super fun to watch. Then, <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_833031225" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> morning, we were able to watch President Eyring give the dedicatory prayer. I just love the temple and I'm super excited to be able to go back soon! We have a few people in our ward who are preparing to get their endowments, and we're so excited for them. The Temple is just amazing.</div>
Lastly, my ponderizing scripture of the week:</div>
D&C 112:10: Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.</div>
Heavenly Father speaks to the humble, those who will follow His words. If we become meek and teachable, He will guide us where we need to go.</div>
Love you all!</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Elder Perkes</span><br />
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#65 16 November 2015<br />
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Well, this week has been pretty good. In preparation for our new companion, we had to do a TON of cleaning this last p-day. We filled up our garbage can with junk and rearranged our apartment some to make it more suitable for 3. Elder Sorensen still has to study on the couch with a little table, but it's better than nothing.</div>
After picking Elder Soresen up from the Mission office we went to the temple open house with Chad and Mike, 2 recent converts who are planning on going to the temple for the 1st time when it reopens. It was SO great and I even saw a bunch of people from my previous areas! Even from Saint Jean! It's been over a year since I've seen some of these people! And the temple is wonderful! It was renovated due to some mold and foundation troubles, so they basically redid the whole thing. It used to be one the basic small temples they have all over, but now it has some Montreal flavor to it, implicating the 4 different flowers of Montreal's founders all over. The English Rose, the French Fleur-de-Lis, the Scottish Thistle, and the Irish Shamrock. It was beautiful! Shout out to Sister Ashcroft from my homeward who helped with the mural. It's amazing the artwork and decor that it is put into the temple. Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a wonderful place. Only the best for the Lord!</div>
So, a little about Elder Sorensen. He's from a small town in southwest Oregon, is a huge fan of Star Wars, and is overall a pretty fun guy. We've been getting along well these past few days, so I'm sure there won't be much to worry about.</div>
On Friday we were able to go to the temple AGAIN with one our investigators, her 2 kids, and their friend/roommate. (Margaret, Mireille, Philippe, and Johanne) They seemed to really like it and had lots of questions about the temple and the church. The temple just got even better the 2nd time we saw it! I just love to the see the temple.</div>
Saturday and Sunday was our Stake Conference. Elder Milan F. Kunz, a Seveny, came. It was wonderful conference all about the Work of Salvation and Ward/Family Councils. I was inspired to work more with the members and to just be better. Elder Kunz even did a couple role plays with the members, which was surprising but super fun!</div>
The final thing is that last night we got a super weird message from a random number from a man who said something like: "Hello Elders, this is Jeeeaaaan Geeeay [elongated name. . . suspicious]. I have a friend who is Mormon Polygamist and I want to join your church because I like a lot of. . .another woman. Please call me back this is urgent. Thanks." I could totally tell it was some fake accent, but I was little worried if it was some weirdo I didn't know. So I called back, played along with it, but as soon as he started talking some more I could tell it was Guillermo Lemus from Hochelaga! He had called to thank me for a letter I had written him to say that he is leaving tomorrow to go on his mission to LA. I'm so excited for him and I know that California is going to receive a great missionary.</div>
Final thoughts for the week:</div>
Sense of the Sacred by D. Todd Christofferson. It's a wonderful talk and I recommend that everyone read it.</div>
This week I'm ponderizing Moroni <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_833031224" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">7:33</span></span> "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."</div>
Have a wonderful week!</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Elder Perkes</span><br />
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#64 9 November 2015<br />
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Sorry, super short letter this week. I'll do better next week.</div>
Probably the most exciting news this week is that we got our transfer calls. We had expected us both to stay here in Hawkesbury, which is exactly what happened. What we didn't expect was that we will now be in a trio! The missionary that will be with us is an Elder Sorenson (not sure how it's spelled). So we've been cleaning and preparing for him almost all p-day. So now we'll have a small army of Elders at all times. It should be fun in our small apartment. The next most exciting thing is that we've been having to feed our investigator's cats every day this week because she was sick with double pneumonia. She has 5. It's been an adventure. But we've had fun. The third most exciting and the most frightening experience of the week happened yesterday night. We had stopped by the chapel to do some business stuffs on the the computers. We entered the chapel and I was opening the door to the clerk's office. Just as I got the door unlocked a super loud, bone cracking, ear-drum popping, booger blowing, tear inducing, socks knock-offing, heart stopping BRRAAAP! went off. Imagine your annoying alarm clock hooked up to the speaker system at a college football stadium that goes off to scare away rhinos. I might be exaggerating, but that's what it felt like to me. I thought that we had not turned off the alarm properly and that we were going to be shot down by a tactical missile. Turns out that it was just my companion seeing if this certain button had the same sound as our doorbell. Let's just say it took me a good 5 minutes for me to breathe again and another 20 minutes of adorable Mormon commercials (Homefront videos on <a href="http://lds.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">lds.org</a>. They're wonderful) to get my heart out of my stomach and my brain right-side-up. Good job companion. You've done it again.</div>
To end it off spiritually D&C 108:7 "Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all yourprayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings."</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Elder Perkes</span><br />
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#63 2 November 2015<br />
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This week has been pretty. . . Uneventful. Johanne was in Utah and she came back on Monday. She seemed to enjoy it but she's still not sure on baptism. We're working on that. Tuesday we did some service at the food bank which is always fun. Stacking shelves and helping people. </div>
Probably the most exciting thing this week was when Elder Pryor scared the beejeebeez out of me. One night I walk out of the bathroom and Elder Pryor asks me to change the alarm on the phone. So, I walk over and open up our phone and I notice a message that says it's from Pres. Patrick. Every time I get a call or text from the APs or President my heart starts beating in my ears. So I look at the phone and it says, "Elder Perkes, we'll speak further of this but just so you are prepared you are being transferred next Wednesday to Ottawa." In my head I was like, <i>WHAT THE JUNK?!?</i> So I run over to Elder Pryor almost yelling at him, "Did you see this? Did you see this?" I send back an "Ok" without really knowing what else to say. But then the 'ok' came straight back to my phone and I know my face turned bright red. Elder Pryor had sent the message to our own phone then saved our own number as "Pres. Patrick". I then proceeded to punch his arm and kick his shins several times. I was just so hyped up in the moment that I didn't sit down and think logically like: <i>Why would President send this over text? Wouldn't it be the APs call me? I've only been here for 5 weeks! Why would he send this on a Wednesday? </i>And other things similar. So, he got me good.</div>
Not much other than that. We bought pumpkins that we haven't carved yet and I think I saw 3 trick-or-treaters on Saturday. Hawkesbury is not a very Halloweener town.</div>
That's about it for this week. For Ponderizing this week I have Alma <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_833031222" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">5:26</span></span> "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" I hope you can all remember the wonderful experiences of the Gospel and continue to live it and share it!</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Elder Perkes</span><br />
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#62 26 October 2015<br />
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This week was pretty great. It started off with a speedy P-day because we had to rush down to the Mission Office in Montréal to get to a leadership meeting with Elder Golden. Unfortunately I was not allowed to go in (which upset me, but it's ok). So I went on a splits-blits-thingy with Elder Roubicek, Elder Carr, and Elder Critchlow, 3 missionaries who have been out for about 4 months (Elder Roubicek is my 'brother' as he is also being trained by Elder Hunter). Basically what we did for an hour was we walked up a street, walked back down, and talked to everyone on the way. It was cool to see all that greenie fire. We placed 4-5 Book of Mormons, I believe.</div>
After the meeting we met back up with our companions and then E. Pryor and I went with 4 other elders and got La Banquise. Good stuff. We slept over at the Zone Leaders apartment in Kirkland and then woke up bright and early the next morning so we could get to the Papineau chapel by <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_833031219" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">5:30</span></span>. At <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_833031220" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">6:30</span></span> we sat in our seats waiting for Elder Golden and then we all got up and we formed a line into the gym where we were all able to shake his hand and introduce ourselves. He asked us how long we've been out and where we were from. I told him that I was from Logan (no one knows where Hyde Park is) and he said, "I know that there are a lot of Perkes up there." but the line moved too fast and I hesitated and so I wasn't able to ask how he knew that. . . But it was still cool!</div>
So, Elder Golden focused on being exactly obedient and having the Holy Ghost. He said how it's the small and simple things we do everyday that help us invite and keep the Holy Ghost in our lives and that with it, we can't do anything. So, Elder Pryor and I have a renewed motivation to be exactly obedient. He told us not to worry about what we've done in the past because we can always change and become better. Overall, it was a really good conference.</div>
The rest of the week we were able to do lots of service. Raking leaves mostly. The trees have gone from their pretty oranges and reds and are now turned dull and brown and they are dropping EVERYWHERE. So, last Thursday, we went to help Chad, a recent convert in the branch. We were able to rake a nice big pile and even took some fun pictures of us jumping in it. Then we went over to help his neighbor rake/mow here lawn a bit as well. After we had finished there and talked to her a bit, we went back to Chad's yard and filled 18 black bags chuck full of leaves. At about <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_833031221" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">11:20</span></span> we had finished all the work and said bye to Chad. As we walked to the car, Elder Pryor hesitated. He patted all his pockets and he uttered something so dark that it caused the light of the sun to blink. "Uh, where are the keys?"</div>
"Are you serious?" replied Chad. With another 5-6 searches through every pocket we concluded that the keys were lost. With a sigh, we started looking, having almost no idea where to start. We commenced our search with a prayer, as a good missionary should, and we kept a prayer in our hearts as we began to scan the grass for anything shiny or black. When we found nothing, we began to lift up the bags and shake them rigorously, listening for anything that could come near to the sound jangling of keys. Still, no luck. Chad left to go search his neighbor's yard and, with a sting in our hearts, we began to rip open each of the 18 bags and pour them onto a tarp. We hoped that the the weight of the keys would fall through the dead leaves and hit the coarse tarp with a jingling crackle and reveal their location. Unfortunately, every bag was emptied and the keys were still not found. By this time I was getting quite discouraged. We had prayed and were doing everything we could to find these keys. I was expecting a miracle. That one lucky bag or shimmer in the dirt. But it just wasn't happening. I had even got down on my hands and knees and literally swept a section of grass with my hand. I even got out my camera and searched the photos seeing if I had a lucky pic of the keys flying out of his pocket. Nothing. So, after about an hour and 40-ish minutes of searching I sat down to take a rest. I was discouraged, tired, hungry, and on the verge of giving up. Chad was still in his neighbors yard and Elder Pryor was on his knees in the huge pile, taking the leaves a handful at a time. Then, I looked over, and I saw his head bowed, and I wondered if he was praying again for divine help in finding them. But as he lifted his head, his hand came with it as he held up the keys and big smile of relief appeared on his face. The search was over and we went over to tell Chad that we had found it, and he was walking back from his neighbors yard. We showed him the keys and he told his neighbors that the keys were found, and then he told us that the whole time he was over at his neighbor's, he was talking to her and her mother about us, the missionaries, and a little about the gospel. Later, Elder Pryor told me this: he had decided to sit down and just search the leaves by the handful, not really knowing what else to do. As he almost mindlessly grabbed handful after handful, a thought came to him: "Put your hand in, pull it out, and they will be there." So, he reached in extra far, grabbed a handful and felt. . . nothing. With a sigh, he pulled out his hand and CLINK! The keys fell to his lap.</div>
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Hopefully that wasn't too long for you, but it was an excellent lesson on prayer, perseverance, and faith that all will be well. It was a needle in a haystack miracle, you could say. I'm thankful for a companion who hung in there.</div>
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Thank you for your prayers and I hope you all have a wonderful week!<br />
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Elder Perkes</div>
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p.s. Alma 34:27 Pray and ponder always for you and those around you</div>
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#61 19 October 2015<br />
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The answer: 15 cords (read on to find our more!)</div>
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Allo, allo!</div>
This week we did lots of service. We picked a bunch of apples again, and they were HUGE! Lets just say we have enough apples to last us while. Elder Pryor actually made exploding apple pies! Ok, they didn't really explode, but they kinda fell apart. That didn't make them any less yummy though. (Elder Pryor is a pretty good cook).</div>
Friday one of our members set up a Zumba class, and she <i>really </i>wanted us to come. So we invited a bunch of members and a few of our investigators and a grand total of 5 people showed up. . . Kind of awkward, but we had fun.</div>
Saturday we helped move TONS of wood. Literally. We moved 15 cords of wood. For those of you who, like me, have no idea what that means, a cord is a 4'X8' stack of wood. That's feet, not inches. It was an all day affair. It took about 2 hours load up, and that was with the help of this fancy conveyor belt machine that the guy had. It was super scary because it ended about halfway into the truck and was about a foot or two above our heads. We should have had hard hats or something because I was so scared that a log was going to land on my head that my neck was looking up most of the time.So, once all the wood was in (and the truck was chuck full of it) we drove the 1.5 hours to drop off the wood, which took 2.5 hours to unload. What made it even worse is that as we were stacking, twice the piles almost fell all over. Thankfully only the end fell, but it was still pretty scary. After all that we had nice lunch at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_833031218" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">5 o'clock</span></span> of pizza and pop. Then we had to leave because usually on Saturdays Mike and Elianne (Recent convert and non-member wife) feed us, so we had dinner at 7 that night. I was very happy to get into bed that night.</div>
Other than that, not too much happening. Ann, one of our investigators is very sick with shingles. It's very hard for to even move so we've been helping her out a lot around the house and just trying to help keep her spirits up. Johanne, another investigator, is going to Salt Lake City tomorrow to attend a business conference for a company she's in. She wants to visit Temple Square and go to church next Sunday while she's there so we're super excited for her and we're hoping that she really feels the Spirit while she's there. Other big things is that tomorrow we will be having a zone conference and Elder Christoffel Golden of the Seventy will be coming to do a mission tour, so we're very excited about all that. And the cherry on top of it all is that the Montreal Temple will be rededicated on November 22, which means in early November there will be the temple open house and we're super excited for all our members and investigators to go. Super exciting!</div>
This week I am super thankful for my family, that I was able to have the gospel in my life from a young age.<br />
Proverbs 22:1 "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches , and loving favour rather than silver and gold."</div>
Bonne semaine!</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Elder Perkes</span><br />
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#60 13 October 2015<br />
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Dear Everybody,</div>
This week has been pretty good, but we didn't do too, too much. We were able to go do some service at a farm. We picked up about 12 laundry baskets full of apples, and it was only from 8 trees. They have 250 trees in total. . . Pretty crazy. But it was pretty fun and we got a whole bunch of fresh apples and some fresh apple juice. Pretty great stuff, if I do say.</div>
We did splits with the Zone Leaders (who are also in our district) which was pretty fun. Well, except for the part when we were almost sprinting out of their apartment with a plate full of chicken kebabs that we hoped were cooked enough so we could make it to an appointment on time. Then the person wasn't even there and we saw our back-up plan walk out the front door just as we came. It was pretty terrible. But we had good night anyways. The next morning we went to a gym that was owned by one of their members and it was super great. I had more motivation to actually work out and it was fun.</div>
Sunday I had to give a talk on Matthew 8:23-27, when Christ calmed the stormy Sea of Galilee. I focused on how when we turn to Christ he will calm our own stormy lives. It turned out pretty good, I think, considering it was my first real Sunday in the branch. Pretty great. After church we went down to Sister Kelley's house, a super awesome member in our branch with 5 boys who basically make up the entire primary, for Thanksgiving dinner, because Canadian Thanksgiving was yesterday. We had wonderful dinner of hamburgers, chips, and turkey with about 13 people squished around a table meant for 6. It was wonderful. Then on Monday (yesterday) we went to Mike (member) and Elianne's (Mike's non-member but very nice wife) house for our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner which consisted of turkey pies, mashed potatoes, ham, veggies, pie, and ice cream. So, it was wonderful. After dinner we took some food to Ann, one of our investigators, because she had been in the hospital on Saturday and was too sick to come to the dinner at Mike's. She appreciated it very much and we had a good time.</div>
My Ponderizing Scripture this week: Mosiah 27:14 when the Angel explains to Alma the Younger that his father, Alma, had prayed for him and that Heavenly Father will always answer the prayers of the faithful.</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Elder Perkes</span><br />
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#59 5 October 2015<br />
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So, this week was pretty exciting. It started with a nice lunch at La Banquise (poutine) where Elder Shumway bought a regular poutine, ate a third of it, put the rest in a box, went up to pay for his meal, then left the box on the counter. Basically he left 8 dollars on the counter there. Pretty funny when he found out on the metros. The rest of the week was mostly preparation and packing for transfers, which went smoothly besides the fact that I got sick. We were able to visit a few families before I left and take a few pictures. I'll be missing Hochelaga, but I'm excited to be in Hawkesbury with Elder Pryor. Elder Pryor is from Orem, Utah and it going home in December. I met him when I was in Ottawa and now we're companions and we get along pretty well. It's been pretty fun so far. Hawkesbury is full of bi-lingual people and is very small compared to Montreal. The actual physical area is huge, but it's all small towns. My first night I was not feeling super awesome, but we still helped this one family move in. It was pretty fun, but the house was not in the best condition (the previous owner didn't clean it up very well) so that fired up the husband a bit. They had been through a lot the whole day because they weren't able to get people to help them pack up the trailer and then they come to a home that's not clean. But we were able to unload just about everything before <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_833031217" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">10 o'clock</span></span> and I was very happy to get a nice rest. Mostly I've been meeting our investigators, less active and active members. Conference was SO great! I learned so much. One thing I got from 3 different talks that we could apply to almost anything is Simplify, Magnify, and Clarify. A new goal I have is to Ponderize a new verse each week. This week my verse is 1 Nephi 6:4-6, and it's Nephi explaining how he wants to write the things that are most pleasing unto God, and not to man. I hope that we can all take and apply the new things we learned in conference, because I know that if we do that, we will find more peace and happiness in this world that seems to be unraveling more and more. Have a great week!</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Elder Perkes</span><br />
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#58 28 September 2015<br />
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Hugo has a date! We had a great lesson and then later that day he and Guylaine, our newest investigator, came to the baptism for 3 kids in the Montreal Est Branch. They both loved it! We had over 80 people at the baptism, which was great.</div>
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Probably the next exciting/sad thing is that after 6 months of being in the big city of Montreal in the lovely ward of Hochelaga, I shall be transferred to a little English branch 45 minutes away called Hawkesbury. I'm sad, happy, excited, and scared. I'm excited to be in a new area, happy that I know my new companion a little already and he seems pretty cool, sad to leave all the wonderful people I've met and worked with (note: must come to visit), and worried I shall lose my french. But it's ok! That's what studies are for, right?</div>
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Funny story of the week:</div>
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Last Sunday at our pot-luck Elder Shumway bit his lip. 3 days later, it started bothering him a lot and we looked it and it had gross white spot on it. We had some mission people look at it and then Elder Shumway decided to go to the doctor. It took about 1 hour to get to the doctors office where we waited 10 minutes because we were early and then another 30 because the appointments were backed up. Finally the doctor invited us in, looked at Elder Shumway's mouth and walked out. 5 minutes later he walks back in and says that it's going to heal on it's own and that he just needs to avoid touching it and eating on that side and that he can gargle salt water if he wants. . . Then an out back to our next appointment. [face palm] Quite an adventure.</div>
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So, change is coming! I hope everyone has a FANTASTIC general conference! How lucky we are to have a prophet today!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#57 21 September 2015<br />
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I had splits with Elder Hernandez where we ate $5 Thai food, gave a haircut to one of our good friends in the ward, Daniel Bolduc, I attended some District Leader duties and did 2 baptismal interviews with 2 kids going to get baptized this Saturday, and then visited the Cosmes, a Spanish Family in our ward. They made us Agua de Horchata which is the delicious drink of rice, milk, and sugar. SO GOOD.</div>
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The rest of the week was filled with normal stuff. We got a new investigator from the English Elders, Guylaine and she seems pretty solid, searching for truth and stuff. We had few Dinners with members which is always nice and we did LOTS of planning.</div>
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Sunday was fun because our 2nd and 3rd hours we did a genealogy activity, which most of our investigators liked, in preparation for the reopening of the Montreal Temple. Then we had a nice big pot-luck after with so much good food and stuff.</div>
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And we finally got a baptismal date for Margalie! [cheers] So, she should be baptized in the mid-October. (we have to do some scheduling magic with the stake to have it). But it should be good!</div>
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Have a fantabulous week!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#56 15 September 2015<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">This week wasn't the most exciting week. We were able to go to the Biodome, which was basically a mini-zoo. My favorite was the poison dart frogs and the puffins, which I have decided is my new animaux preferé (favorite animal en français). We had a few suppers at members houses and I had this Mexican drink made from flower pedals called Jamaica (pronounced like huh-my-kuh) and few good lessons. Hugo and Margalie are doing good, but we're still working on the coffee thing. But they both committed to stop. We also had pass-off with the English Elders, Elder Hunter (my trainer) and Elder Roubicek (his new trainee). His name is Hughes and he seems like a pretty cool Haitian. Sunday was a little crazy. I was able to play a duet with Elder Shumway in Sacrament meeting with me playing the piano (that's for you mom) and he was playing the organ. We played the song found in this months Ensign called "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need". Everyone loved it and said it was perfect (there a few timing errors, but no one really noticed). Then we had </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">another</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> pass-off with the English Elders in a sketchy part of the our area, but the guy seemed nice. His name was Hugo (yes, we now have 2 Hugos we're teaching) and he's just young guy but his environment isn't the most...inviting. We were interrupted by a lady who jumped in, told us her life story and why she believes what she believes. It wasn't necessarily bad, it was just. . . odd. But we got a return appointment. After that the Chinese Elders, Elder Chou and Elder Woo, called to ask if we could open the church for them and come help them with a lesson. So we sat in on the lesson, which they kept mostly in English. It was a long Sunday and we weren't able to eat until quite late. But it was good and I got a good night's rest for our Zone Conference the next day. It was such a good Zone Conference. A big chunk we talked about the Sabbath Day and how if we keep the Sabbath Day more sacred, if we really dedicate it to a day of rest from the world, all other aspects of our life will be better. We also learned about Sacrifice and how we need to cut of the bad branches and purge the good ones so that we can become better (John 15:1-2). </span><br />
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So, pretty good week.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#55 8 September 2015<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">This week was pretty fun/crazy/normal/yummy. We had a little district activity where we all went up to Mount Royal to see the view point of the whole city. Yes, it's more of a hill than a mount, but it was cool anyways. While up there, we saw this kid and his aunt playing together. The kid was playing the accordion and the lady was playing the public piano. They were really cool and we were talking with them after and the lady said that she had actually met President Hinckley! She had been in a group that had performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and they had lunch with a bunch of general authorities.</span><br />
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Wednesday we had a pretty good district meeting and after we did a split with the other Elders. Elder Smith came with me to our area and it was ok. Nothing super exciting, but after a long night of bus rides we stopped at this tiny Thai restaurant and it was FANTASTIC. I got a plate of special noodles, shrimp, and chicken. Then we had fried ice cream. It was SOOOO good. The next day we had ANOTHER split with the Zone Leaders, but this time I went to their area with Elder Gutierrez and Elder Shumway stayed in ours with Elder Munoz. Unfortunately, all of our appointments fell through and we spent a lot of time in the car making calls and figuring out what we were going to do. We were <i>supposed </i>to have one solid lesson in the evening, but that cancelled as soon as we showed up. So we talked with the member who came with us (well, he did. They talked in Spanish) and while I awkwardly stood there picking out a word here and there, two younger men walked by. As they passed us, the one walking closest to us lifted up his hand and said, "High-five!" I reacted with such great reflexes and returned the high-five. They just continued walking. Random moment, I would say.</div>
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Saturday we went to our first lesson and I COMPLETELY forgot to wear a tie. I almost felt naked without it. But it was ok. The lesson went well. We have 2 solid investigators Hugo and Margalie. Both come to church consistently and Margalie really wants to be baptized. Hugo is still a little hesitant. He doesn't feel like he's ready for the moment, but I think he'll be fine. </div>
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For fast and testimony meeting I bore my testimony about Charity. I shared something I had learned in District Meeting from Elder Plumb. Charity is the pure love of Christ, which doesn't necessarily mean that charity is your love for someone. Really, Charity is the Atonement. And how we have Charity is by sharing the blessings of the Atonement with everyone. That is true charity. So, that was a cool thing I learned.</div>
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Then yesterday, for Labor Day, all of our appointments cancelled. It was long day of walking and trying to find lost ward members and investigators. My feet were very tired at the end and I was happy to get some sleep.</div>
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Thanks everyone for your love and support and have a great week!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-8341655886327702772015-09-06T11:45:00.000-07:002015-09-06T11:45:51.717-07:00Letters #51-54 and pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Alvarez Family</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHMroReUEvOpQOzXtYDLDt4JH_O4cu61YBrHwMhF8ocmDYQtRD4WV1SjqUHIgEYZR3nQo2ylOMb3Dqq8L3Pnj7jWFjYj4yMbn8GXzdLBgQpuBoiypP6HuQi_Y_6b3cFyQVsRqyT3xmV4z/s1600/Alvarezs+and+us.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHMroReUEvOpQOzXtYDLDt4JH_O4cu61YBrHwMhF8ocmDYQtRD4WV1SjqUHIgEYZR3nQo2ylOMb3Dqq8L3Pnj7jWFjYj4yMbn8GXzdLBgQpuBoiypP6HuQi_Y_6b3cFyQVsRqyT3xmV4z/s320/Alvarezs+and+us.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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At Mount Royal with other missionaries</div>
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Interesting sauce - complete will real mini bible</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo44aGXlTDh8-JHYjJv6C9PRJRs52qx_Xqbii6uFwUmQh2K-3xhF2LnqwWMg1-RNH39uJ8altDBUACql4Lp6HHtZImNVf-UyHvcO48RZxL9ryh75-M2GdJcEZX6dbPfwXKdr67Ij78s6Hu/s1600/DSCN1047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo44aGXlTDh8-JHYjJv6C9PRJRs52qx_Xqbii6uFwUmQh2K-3xhF2LnqwWMg1-RNH39uJ8altDBUACql4Lp6HHtZImNVf-UyHvcO48RZxL9ryh75-M2GdJcEZX6dbPfwXKdr67Ij78s6Hu/s320/DSCN1047.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pictures at the Botanical Gardens</div>
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View of Montreal!</div>
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Elder Perkes with his companion Elder Shumway</div>
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Ward Picnic</div>
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Wax museum - he met quite a few celebrities</div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxeBP9m_mrxoeMd3lnFZYBdMSSnP4ZGJF9RRS2V97WO9FY3wBTwy1sm3mn30pG0yeMh6tyfShB_EapJqU-09w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Letter #54</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>31 August 2015</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">It has been a pretty long week with lots of ups and downs and twists and turns and even a loop-di-loop with a tunnel at the bottom. But, at the end of the day, the roller coaster keeps trucking along.</span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Last P-day we went to the Botanical Garden or "Jardin Botanique" for you francophones. It's basically a giant garden that features different types of gardens all over the world. Chinese and Japanese, Alps and Mexico, and all sorts of fruit trees and berry bushes and all that fun stuff. After that we had a nice dinner at our Bishop's house and a nice family home evening with their 3 daughters. We talked about how if we are good, we will all be together again in heaven. Then one of the daughters, with the wonderful imagination that could only come from someone between the ages of 3 and 6, said, "Maybe, in heaven, we'll be able to eat oranges with the peels on them!" I'll let that sink in for a moment.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Wednesday we had a nice District meeting where the Plumbs gave a wonderful training/family home evening on family home evening. The talked about how important it is to make sure that the home is a safe haven from the constant bombardments of Satan and his followers. They talked about how parents must send their children out with the daily strength of prayer of scripture study to help them in their daily struggles. It was a good training. Thursday we helped one of our members clean out his uncles apartment (who had recently died) and my goodness was it a mess. We had to throw away so much junk and it was so dirty and messy and ugh. It was terrible. But we were a big help, which is what I like to be.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Other than that, normal missionary stuff. Teaching, going to church, riding metros, eating, riding metros home, etc, etc.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">I hope everyone has good week!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">D&C 121:7-9</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Ether <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_563925298" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">12:27</span></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Elder Perkes</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Letter #53</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>24 August 2015</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">It has been a pretty long week with lots of ups and downs and twists and turns and even a loop-di-loop with a tunnel at the bottom. But, at the end of the day, the roller coaster keeps trucking along.</span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Last P-day we went to the Botanical Garden or "Jardin Botanique" for you francophones. It's basically a giant garden that features different types of gardens all over the world. Chinese and Japanese, Alps and Mexico, and all sorts of fruit trees and berry bushes and all that fun stuff. After that we had a nice dinner at our Bishop's house and a nice family home evening with their 3 daughters. We talked about how if we are good, we will all be together again in heaven. Then one of the daughters, with the wonderful imagination that could only come from someone between the ages of 3 and 6, said, "Maybe, in heaven, we'll be able to eat oranges with the peels on them!" I'll let that sink in for a moment.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Wednesday we had a nice District meeting where the Plumbs gave a wonderful training/family home evening on family home evening. The talked about how important it is to make sure that the home is a safe haven from the constant bombardments of Satan and his followers. They talked about how parents must send their children out with the daily strength of prayer of scripture study to help them in their daily struggles. It was a good training. Thursday we helped one of our members clean out his uncles apartment (who had recently died) and my goodness was it a mess. We had to throw away so much junk and it was so dirty and messy and ugh. It was terrible. But we were a big help, which is what I like to be.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Other than that, normal missionary stuff. Teaching, going to church, riding metros, eating, riding metros home, etc, etc.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">I hope everyone has good week!</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">D&C 121:7-9</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Ether <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_563925295" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">12:27</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Elder Perkes</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Letter #52</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>17 August 2015</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Hello everybody!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">This week was a little slow, but we were able to do some good stuff.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Monday we visited the Notre Dame Basilica here in Montreal. It was fun and while the tour lady was describing how big the organ was, she talked about how it is really big, but there are a few bigger ones, one in Salt Lake City. Yup.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">We were able to teach a few of our investigators. Hugo, a quebecois man, is doing well. He comes to church, prays, reads everything we give and more. Youcef, an Algerian young man, is great. He came to church, he reads from the Book of Mormon, and he wants to be baptized. We will be passing him off to the YSA, so we hope that he has fun there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">This week I have been reading and thinking a lot about our ancestors. They sacrificed so much so that we can the rights and freedoms we have today. Pioneers faced almost every storm in life, whether that came from nature or man. I have been reading their stories of faith, of perseverance, of long-suffering, and of joy in the Gospel. We can learn so much from their examples and we can push through life's challenges if we look towards our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And if we do so, we will the example for our children, and their children, and all of those who will come after us. I am so grateful for Pioneers, ancient, modern, and the pioneers of today. "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a stead fastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." 2 Nephi 31:20</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Elder Perkes</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Letter #51</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>10 August 2015 </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Well, I've got less than a year left. Time flies. This week I was able to finish the Book of Mormon in French. I was able to read it in 73ish days. By the end I noticed how much more I understood, not just the language but the story and the concepts as well. On our year mark we had a Zone Training Meeting where we talked about our purpose as missionaries, and how as we focus on our purpose we are able to make better plans and therefore be more productive with the short time we have here. Other stuff. . . We have a new investigator from Algeria. He was introduced to the church by his friend and he called us up one day and said that he wanted to meet with us. I was a little shocked because that normally doesn't happen, but we were able to have a good lesson and he seems very interested. I have high hopes for him. Saturday we helped with a Single Adult activity which was INSANE. When we first got there we were just waiting around. We set up tables and put bread on all of them. Then they started filing in and we put salads on all the tables. Then they started to "order". Originally the plan was they would get chicken. The only exception is if they couldn't eat chicken, whatever the reason. But, the waiters would go up and ask "Lasagna or chicken?" As if they had a choice. Then the chaos began. Orders were flying everywhere and people were in and out of the tiny kitchen. Only half of the table was being served at a time and the numbers on all the tables were crazy so we had no idea where to serve. Then we ran out of lasagna and the people who needed the lasagna ended up with vegetables, rice, and extra salad. Oh, it was crazy. But, in the end, everyone was fed, and we went home with 2 extra Cosco chickens. So, it was pretty good week.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Elder Perkes</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-8468414553363494202015-08-05T20:24:00.000-07:002015-08-05T20:24:04.784-07:00Letters #42, #43, #44, #45, #46, #47, #48, #49, #50<div class="MsoNormal">
#50 August 3<sup>rd</sup>, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Form of a
Butterfly<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well, things are cooling down
a little. But we still have hot days. It was in the 30s earlier this week (now
that's Celsius which is around 86 F. Not to mention humidity. And our apartment
is on the top floor. . . ugh) but right now it's nice. Early in the week Elder
Shumway got another organ lesson from Sister Plumb and I talked with Elder
Plumb. He is a very doctrine-ly smart man. Actually, he's just a smart man in
general. We talked about how he and his wife were going to a YSA Conference
this last week end up in Quebec City. He was the opening speaker for it and the
theme was "Let them be one" from. . . the. . . Bible. . . It's when
Jesus is saying a prayer to help the disciples to be one, like how the Father
and the Son are one, just before Gethsemane. He was telling me how when he
prepares his talks, he writes his thoughts, and when he has how he wants to
word them, he just makes an outline. Then he says that when he speaks, he
speaks to the audience like how he speaks to a friend. He says it makes it more
interesting. I thought to myself, "I've never thought of it like that. I
want to have my talks like that!" so, just a cool idea. Then we went out
to eat after, which is always nice. Later that day we visited the
Grenier-Houdes, the family of one of the councilors in the Bishopric. We had a
nice visit. During the visit we had mentioned in passing how our air
conditioner is broken and how hot it is. Then, as we were leaving, Frere
Grenier-Houde said, "We have an air conditioner that works well that we
don't use any more, I can come by tomorrow morning and drop it off for
you." And we were blessed with a fantastic air conditioner that keeps our
apartment soooooo nice. Yay for members!</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
had a really good District meeting this last week. Elder Shumway gave an
excellent training on Home Teaching. We don't just home/visit teach because
it's something that the First Presidency thought would be nice homework for us,
we visit the families in our wards so that they may be nourished by the good
word of God. We help them with their difficulties and are there to bless their
lives and be their friends. The talk he got it from was by Elder Russel M.
Nelson: Shepherds, Lambs, and Home Teachers. So, if you haven't already got the
hint, DO YOUR HOME AND VISITING TEACHING. If you've been doing it, good I'm
glad. Go buy yourself some chocolate. The rest of the meeting went very well
and the Spirit was there. My chest was burning after and it just felt good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later
in the week we were on the way to an appointment and Elder Shumway sat down
next to a guy who I could tell was looking at us. As soon as Elder Shumway sat
down, he pulled out his BoM and started reading and the guy asked him if it was
the Bible. They had a nice conversation and in the end Elder Shumway gave him
the BoM. We got to our appointment, which was in a large park, and we could NOT
find the investigator. We called several times and we couldn't find her.
Finally, we figured it out and as we were walking this called out to us from
under a tree and asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses (haven't heard THAT
before). We said no, we're Mormons and he said, "Ok, do you want to teach
me something?" I thought to myself, YES! But we had our appointment. So I
gave him a card with our number. The lesson went well and right in the middle
of it, a butterfly came and landed on my shoulder and stayed there until the
closing prayer. I told Elder Wassum about it and he asked, "So, it was the
Holy Ghost in the form of a butterfly?" I'll take it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hopefully
that email was long enough and I hope y'all got something good out of it. Have
a fantastical week!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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#49 July 27<sup>th</sup>, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Splits and Gifts<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bonjour à tous!</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
week was pretty good. We were able to talk and teach and walk and preach and
all that jazz.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tuesday
we were on our way to a meeting when this random lady walked up to us and asked
if we would like to buy a violin (I was wearing my ukulele and she thought is
was a violin case). We said no, were not all that interested and we started to
explain that we're missionaries for our church and she started going off about
all these things that she "knew" about Mormons. I was a little
startled at how crazy these different accusations were, but Elder Shumway was
able to make her take a Book of Mormon to read and think about. She was a
little hesitant, but he was persistent and I did my best to testify of the
truth. Then we quickly left to our meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wednesday,
after an OK district meeting, we left with the other Elders to help a random
lady move. It was crazy. The truck showed up late and we had other appointments
we needed to go to. It was pretty disorganized and 2 of us had to leave before
it was all finished, but I feel like she appreciated it. After, I went with
Elder Hernandez to his area and Elder Smith went with Elder Shumway to ours. It
was a nice day. We were able to teach some less actives and meet some people.
The next day, Thursday, we had English class, but we had to do another split
with the English YSA Elders so that we could do a pass-off lesson. It was
pretty crazy, but it went well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saturday
went very well, I felt. We were able to see Hugo, a new investigator. He had
called the day before and he said that he had read the Restoration pamphlet and
a bunch of other things on line and he wanted more! We were very excited and we
went and taught a nice lesson. Then we were able to have another lesson with a
pass-off from the Sisters in the Montreal Est branch. Her name is Margalie and
she has lots of family that are members. Here mother (who was a member)
recently passed away which really hit here and opened the doors of her heart to
let the spirit in (ooh, that was deep, was it not?). We had a great lesson and
we were able to bring Bro. Cajuste, who actually knew Margalie's mother and
sister from when they were all living in Haiti. Coincidence? I think NOT! (my
new favorite line to use as a missionary). So, it was a pretty good week. To
top it all off, Jimmy was able to come to church (which he loved) and we had a
lovely dinner after with some members.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
week was full of lovely little miracles and I know that when we are looking for
them, we realize how often Heavenly Father places these little miracles in our
lives. Look for those miracles and show your gratitude for them! Because it's
like thanking your mom for those delicious cookies she just made. You'll often
get seconds, and maybe even thirds. "If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in
heaven give good things to them that ask him?" ~Matthew 7:11<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have
a wonderful week!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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#48 July 20<sup>th</sup>, 2015<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I can’t sing<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear Family, friends,
acquaintances, and creepers who read my emails,</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This
week has been pretty good. We had a nice, casual P-day of pool (the green fuzzy
table, not the swimmer thing), Foosball, and ping-pong against a team from
Zarahemla ward (the Spanish ward that meets in the same building as us).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
were able to visit a few different people this week. There's a member who is
new to our ward that we visited. He's going through some financial
difficulties, but he seems to be doing well. His wife isn't a member (yet), so
there's some potential there. Wednesday we had pretty good district meeting. I
used my District Leader power of delegation and it seemed to turn out well. We
had a few good trainings and I could tell that the spirit was present. So
really, I didn't have to to do anything. We had dinner with a member that night
with her less-active son. It was a little rough. We tried to sing a song with
my ukulele, but we had forgotten to practice. And to top it off the son made a
joke just before and Elder Shumway started laughing in the middle. It was
somewhat disastrous, but it was pretty funny.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thursday
we had interviews with President Patrick. It went pretty well. He gave me some
good advice on really focusing on our purpose of missionaries. Sometimes in
missionary work (this can also apply to callings, responsibilities, families,
or most of life in general) we get caught up in the check list of things to do.
We look at our list of things to do and we do them and check them off, then
forget about them until our next check list. Life is not a check list. We need
focus on <i>why </i>we are doing what we're doing. An example in
missionary work: we are told by our leaders that we need to contact the people
we are working with daily. Sometimes we go about it as check list. We send a
text message with a scripture and then check their name off. The purpose of
daily contact is to help them have the daily dose of the Gospel that they need.
Satan is bombarding them (and us) every hour with worldly temptations. We need
to combat that by doing the "primary answers" daily. Reading your
scriptures, saying your prayers, etc. Really focusing on <i>why </i>we
do things will help us want to do them instead of looking at them as some
mundane chore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
there's my rant for the week. I hope you got something from it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Other
stuff from the week. . . Probably the last highlight is that we had 3 people
give us food to take home on Sunday. Food is nice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So,
that's the week in a nutshell. Have a good one!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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#47 July 13<sup>th</sup>, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Like a District
Leader!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(not quiet the same ring as
‘boss’…)<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bonjour tout le monde!</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So,
this week started with Cedric (a member in Laval), Elder Shumway and I going to
see the St. Joseph Oratory. It's this giant cathedral/church dedicated to
Joseph, the father of Jesus. It's gigantic. It was pretty cool. I got a pastry
after which was nice. On the way home we went down into the metros. As I sat down
this guy on the bench said Bonjour and shook my hand. I sat down somewhat next
to him, but he didn't say anything afterword. I felt awkward. I didn't know if
he was a member, an investigator, or just one of those crazy people that say hi
to missionaries (they do exist). So I started making some small talk, asking
him about his day. Then I asked him how he knew the missionaries and he replied
(in french), "I talk to missionaries from time to time." In my head,
I thinking, <i>That tells me NOTHING! </i>Then he said Hi to Cedric
and I felt embarrassed. He was a ward member in YSA. So I got pranked, sorta.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thursday
I had my first District meeting as District Leader. It started a little late,
but it went pretty well. Not the best, but well. I've got some ideas for next
week that will hopefully improve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thursday
we had splits with the Zone Leaders, which I was really nervous about. We were
supposed to have a lesson with Jimmy, our awesome investigator, but he was
working and didn't show up. I was pretty disappointed. The splits went pretty
well. I went with Elder Pesquiera. He goes home next transfer. He's cool and is
from Orem, Utah. He gave me some good advice on being District Leader and
contacting people on the metros, because I still have difficulty with that, but
I've made a plan and I feel like it should go pretty well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Other
stuff this week. . . We had a good dinner appointment with Sister Kinic, a
Congolese women who lived in France for most of her life. She showed us a song
she wrote and she wants to get it published, but she doesn't really know where
to turn to find people to publish it, but it's a pretty good song. Sunday we
had a dinner appointment with the family Lemus. They're pretty awesome. The
Wassums were there too. It was fun and we sang with my ukulele with them.
They're from El Salvador so we sang in Spanish. It was all good fun. That night
I did my first District Calls as District Leader. It went pretty good. I
basically winged it, but it was fun. Lots of good stuff this week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
final quote that I read in a talk this week:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Every
experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect
preparation for a future that only He knows."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">~Corrie
ten Boom (I think that was the name)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Everything
that happens, happens for a reason. It prepares us for not only our future here
on earth, but after this life as well. Heavenly Father know us and knows what's
best for us. I love you all!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
#46 July 6<sup>th</sup>, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘Merica!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This week was pretty fun. We
visited this older brother in our ward named Pierre Cantin. He's deaf so
someone has to sign for him in church. We visited him, had a nice little lunch,
and he taught us how to sign some. It was fun and I really liked it. He doesn't
really do too much, so he takes things that people have thrown out, fixes them
up, and puts them in his apartment. He's pretty crafty and he has a fantastic
view from his window.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wednesday
we had splits. Elder Hernandez came with me and Elder Shumway went with Elder
McLaughlin. We were supposed to help one person move, but then that didn't work
out. So instead we helped another lady move. It was crazy. We tried our best to
help. And to top it all off it was DUMPING rain. You couldn't stay outside for
5 seconds without getting soaked. But we had a great DA with the Famille Lemus
after. We had tosdadas. And I got to hold their pet chinchilla. Pretty cool
stuff. Thursday we had Zone Training meeting. We got to see some stats of the
missions and the area and we had some good stuff on Charity and why we do
certain things to help our members and investigators. Overall it was a good
training. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saturday
we had a nice DA and correlation. Then we had Transfer calls! -yay- Me and
Elder Shumway are staying the same, but I am becoming District Leader which I'm
a little scared about, but I think it'll be ok. We were able to see a few
Fireworks for the 4th of July from our apartment (strange how Canada celebrates
our Independence day). But it was a good week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here's
a thought from our Training:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">" 35 Nevertheless they
did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and
firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy
and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their
hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto
God."</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Helaman 3:35<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
#45 June 29<sup>th</sup>, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It’s About Time!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This week was pretty good.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Guillermo
Lemus, our ward mission leader, got his mission cal, to LA California, Spanish
speaking! So that's exciting. He's not leaving until November so we still have
him for a while. But he had been waiting for his call for more than 4 months
because a bunch of crazy financial stuff. So we're excited for him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
just want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday! It went very well
and we had a fun time. We were able to visit the Athanassi family, the
oldest family in the ward. It is a brother and his 2 sisters. They are
very old but super nice. We talked with them for a long while and he has such a
strong testimony of the church. He has been able to experience so many miracles
in his life and he is just amazing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
were also able to meet a man by the name of Roger. He is from Congo and
seems pretty interested. We're able to teach him a little bit and comit him to
come to church this next week. So we're hopeful for him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On
Saturday we were able to have a wonderful lesson with Jimmy, our most
progressing investigator. We had dinner at the bishops house and a great lesson
about the priesthood. Unfortunately jimmy did not come to church, but he was
moving because his living situation was a little crazy, so I guess he has an ok
excuse. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On
Sunday we were supposed to have dinner with the Wassums, the senior couple in
our ward, and then talk about the ward list after, but Sister Wassum came up to
us and said she hadn't prepared anything, so she asked if we were ok with
salad. I was a little disappointed, but I was ok. Then Sister Candenedo, a nice
sister in our ward, came up to us and said, "I have food for you to take
home!" So we fed the Wassums lasagna, salad, and really good bread. That
morning I had watched a Mormon message on the Tender Mercies of the Lord. I
took that as one. The Lord's timing helps you recognize his tender mercies, and
the timing for that was perfect. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hope
y'all have a good week! (Elder Wassum has a nice Virginian accent)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
#44 June 22<sup>nd</sup>, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Birthday Salmon<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This last week was pretty
good. On P-day we visited Old Montreal, which was really cool. Lots of old
buildings and expensive restaurants.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tuesday
we helped our Bishop move lots of wood and stuff from his basement. He's doing
some renovations and so we helped him out a bit with that. After that we went
to the Lemus's where we had a wonderful dinner and scripture study. Also, Elder
Shumway and I have started singing hymns with our members while I play the
ukulele which seems to be working pretty well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thursday
was Elder Shumway's B-day. Missionary birthdays are pretty much blend with
every other day of the week. We were able to see the Slimi's, a recent convert
family from Algeria. They're pretty cool and we had a fun time singing with
them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Saturday
we were able to have a great lesson with Jimmy. He's right on track for his
baptism on the 18, we just need him to come to church more regularly and to get
him more friends in the ward, but once one of those problems is fixed, the
other should be easier. Then we celebrated Elder Shumway's birthday that night
by eating a big chunk of Salmon. It was really good. Definitely one of the best
missionary-made meals I've ever had.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So
it was a good week for meeting more members.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
#43 June 15<sup>th</sup>, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">First One’s on the
House<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This week we've had a few
adventures.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tuesday
we were cleaning the apartment because splits was the next day and Elder
Shumway wanted it to look nice. He was in the process of cleaning the bathroom
when he noticed a spot on the ceiling that he couldn't quite reach. So he stood
on the toilet to reach it. I was walking nearby when suddenly I heard a
cr-CLUNK-a-dunka SPLASH! "Elder Peeeeerkes?!" He had broken the seat
off the toilet and landed in the bowl of toilet water. I laughed pretty hard.
But it was clean and we got the seat replaced. Later that day we visited the
senior couples, the Wassums, and had lunch with them. After, we gave a blessing
to a 89 year old less-active member. She appreciated it very much.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wednesday
we went on exchanges. I went with Elder McLaughlin up to north and Elder
Hernandez stayed in our area with Elder Shumway. We visited a few members and we
were supposed to have a pass off lesson, but the male of the home was not
present, so we could actually stay for the lesson. We decided to stop at a
depaneur (corner store) nearby to grab a juice. We walked in and asked if they
took credit. The owner said yes, but when we went back to pay for our drinks,
he scanned them, but didn't take Elder McLaughlin's card. We looked at him and
he just gave us our drinks, smiled, and waved good bye. We were a little
stunned because this random guy just gave us some free drinks. Super nice.
Later that night there was a really cool lightning storm and we just watched it
from the apartment window.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thursday
we had a Zone Training meeting. President gave a really good training on how to
really help people change. When people truly understand the doctrine behind
everything we do, they will change. “True doctrine, understood, changes
attitudes andbehavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel willimprove
behavior quicker than a study of behavior willimprove behavior.”<br />
–President Boyd K. Packer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That's
a quote found in Preach My Gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sunday
was quite exciting. The Group du Nord, a group that was technically part of our
ward but met in another place up north, became a branch! [yay!] So they
organized the presidency and all that fun stuff. Then, after church, one of our
members made us dinner and we ate it with her daughters family, who's husband
was the former bishop. Turns out, he had served here as well 10 years ago. He's
originally from France, but when he came back to visit, he met a girl from
Zarahemla ward and they got married. Now they live on the south shore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So,
lots of good stuff this week and Elder Shumway and I have lots of goods stuff
planned for these next few weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
#42 June 8<sup>th</sup>, 2015<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cloudy With A Chance
of SALVATION<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The weather this week has
been either hot and humid or gray and rainy. We like the gray days better, but
our 2 new fans keep the apartment at a decent temperature.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wednesday
after District meeting we went to get poutine with Elder and Sister Plumb, the
senior couple in YSA. They served in England and one of their sons served in
Montreal as well and they were able to see some of the people he served
with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thursday
we got our water heater checked. There were 3 more Asians in our apartment and
it was kind of weird. Turns out the water heater isn't working too well so we
are going to get it replaced. Hopefully sometime soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
had a fantastic lesson with Jimmy on Friday. We covered quite a bit of stuff
and he just took it all in like a sponge. He's been having a few trials and
temptations the past few weeks, which has been rough for him, but he's staying
strong and we are planning for him to be baptized in July.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On
the way to another appointment we some "public pianos". Just these
random colorful pianos that people have set up in various places around the
city. Elder Shumway is a really good piano player, so we might have to go try
them out one of these days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
had English Class on Saturday morning, and Elder Shumway really liked it. We
had a pretty good turn out towards the end of it. Later that night we had a
ward Family home evening. It was... ok. They weren't able to announce it
sacrament meeting because of Stake Conference so only a few people showed up.
Most of us were missionaries. . . But we still had a good time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Today
we went and saw the City Hall building of Montreal. We just went to get a pin
(we might do a tour another day) and the security guard who we talked to was
actually a member in Lasalle! it was fun. He showed us pictures and gave us
some pins right off his lapels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
cool scripture we discussed in District Meeting:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"Verily,
I say unto my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., or in other words, I will call you
friends, for you are my friends, and ye shall have an inheritance with
me-"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Heavenly
Father and Jesus Christ truly are our friends. They will be our best friend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One
more thought that I read in a talk:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"It's
what you do with what you have that makes you who you are."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Elder
Perkes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;">
<br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-51939106326720403002015-06-03T09:06:00.001-07:002015-06-03T09:06:45.668-07:00Letters #37, #38, #39, #40, #41#41 June 1, 2015<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6000003814697px;">New stuff but no car</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">This week was pretty great. Elder Brewer and I went and ate poupusas with Guillermo , our ward mission leader. I almost got a car in this area, but someone else needed it more so we're still on buses and metro. Tuesday we had party at Phaniel's house for a farewell to Elder Losee. That was fantastic. Then transfers and I got my new companion Elder Shumway! We met in the MTC. He's cool. He was born in China but was adopted when he was young nod is currently from American Fork. </span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1491349233" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Friday</span></span> we were able to have an awesome lesson with Jimmy. He's already living the Word of Wisdom and he is just so excited for his baptism, which should be in late June. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1491349234" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> we had stake conference and Jimmy came to that and he loved it. Elder Catcher of the 70 spoke and he did a wonderful job. </div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">That's about it for this week. It should be a fun transfer and I hope everyone is doing well with summer coming up because here it is uber hot and humid. But it'll make for a good story.</span><br />
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#40 May 25, 2015</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">This week was ok. Elder Brewer and I were sick at different times so we weren't able to work like we would have liked to. We were able to teach a few good lessons.</span></div>
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A little miracle: We were walking to the bus stop so we could get home when we saw the bus at the intersection. The bus stop was still a block away and because it was later in the evening, the next bus wouldn't come for another 20-30 minutes, and we needed to get home. So I started running, hoping that we'd catch the bus. My companion thought that we weren't going to make it. I kept running, and the bus pulled over and let us on! Hurray for nice bus drivers!</div>
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We've were also able to teach the Slimi Family. They are recent converts and they are pretty great. They have 2 daughters and a newborn son. They're Algerian and are awesome. After we visited with them for a bit, Frere Slimi came with us to English class, which is always fun. Lots of different cultures in one area. It's great.</div>
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Then Saturday night came. Transfer calls. I was not expecting anything because both of us had only been here for 1 transfer. I was wrong. Elder Brewer is leaving to the West side of the Island (of Montreal) and I will be receiving Elder Shumway, one of my friends from the MTC. It was crazy! And now I will be senior companion, which I'm pretty nervous about. But it should be fun.</div>
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Sunday I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting. 10 minutes of french. I mostly read a lot scriptures and I had written everything else down. But I received a lot of compliments and everyone said I did very well. Then we had a pot luck after, which is always fun. </div>
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So, that's the week in a nut shell. There's gonna be some changes around here, but should be fun.</div>
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#39 May 18, 2015</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;"><b>This week was either hot or rainy, but still good. </b></span><div style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">
<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">We had a Zone conference which was pretty great. One big thing that I got from it was daily contact. Everyone needs daily spiritual nourishment, even if they are just beginning to learn. </span></div>
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Thursday we found out that one of our investigators got into a car accident, but he walked away ok. </div>
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One the way home from a meeting we had from a less active an old man with a scraggly beard called to us and yelled "Salt Lake! Salt Lake! I've been there! We build bridges not walls! I've been to Salt Lake! Salut!" The. He gave us each a pen and walked away. That was fun </div>
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Saturday we attended a baptism for the kids of some recent converts that the other elders were teaching. We made some peanut butter and toffee fudge and everyone LOVED it. </div>
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Sunday we attended the north group and then went to our church, so we had a long day of meetings, but it was good. We were also able to teach the grand daughter of a member. She's 9 and not baptized, so hopefully we'll be able to help her along.</div>
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So, it was pretty good week. I should be finishing the BoM this week. It has been great. I've learned so much reading it this past 6 weeks and it is definitely the best tool in gaining a testimony of this church. </div>
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Love you all!</div>
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Elder Perkes </div>
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#38 May 11, 2015</div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.6000003814697px;">My Mom can Walk on Water (not really, but she can run in the pouring rain)</span><span style="font-size: 17.6000003814697px;"><br /></span></div>
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This week has been pretty average in the life. It's been hot and humid with a little bit of rain. And lots of road construction. Fun stuff.<div>
We were able to see Jimmy this week and we set a baptismal date for the first week in June. He thought about and then said, "That so far away, can't we do it sooner?" he's pretty awesome.</div>
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We were also able to teach Rosemane Prul. She's Haitian woman that we hadn't been able to see yet. We went with Frere St. Louis, a Haitian member. He was fantastic! He was able to explain what we were saying in Creole because she understood it better. She loved the idea of the Pre-earth life and said that she would study it more! It's amazing that little things that we've learned since Primary (for those of us who have grown up in the church) are so important and can have such an amazing impact on others.</div>
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Elder Brewer has a plethora of talks on CD and they are awesome. We listed to one by Michael Wilcox and he talked about our 'walk on water' moments. The big thing that stuck to me was a 3 step process to overcoming challenges: "Look unto Me, Learn of Me, and Listen to My word." You could also add the 4th step of Love. It was a wonderful talk.</div>
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Finally, Mother's day was fantastic. I love my Mom! She is the best mom in the world and no one can tell me differently.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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#37 May 4, 2015</div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.6000003814697px;">People of Hochelaga</span></div>
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This week has been pretty standard in the ways of the good ol` CMM.</div>
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Monday we went to the Olympic stadium. It was a bit anticlimatic and we weren`t able to go up the tower (maybe next time), but it was a good experience nontheless.</div>
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Some people we were able to see:</div>
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Said Slimi: He`s a recent convert that we are trying to work with. He is from Algeria and has 3 cute kids. His wife has been in Algeria for a couple of months, but she should be back now. It was a little tough on him, but he seems to be doing well.<br />Olivier: Olivier is an investigator we met on the way to find a referral. Elder Brewer just started talking to him and as he was going into his house he said that we should come back and teach! Exactly what we like to hear. He knew a little bit about the Mormons from a friend in Haiti (he`s haitian) and he seems pretty accepting.</div>
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Stephane, Edna, and Ednar: Stephane and Edna are a haitian couple and Ednar is the father of Edna. It`s a little difficult to teach them. But we do our best.</div>
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On Friday it was a little crazy. We recieved a call from the YSA sisters saying that they had pass-off lesson that they wanted to do, but we had an appointment that night. Then our appointment cancelled so we were able to go to the lesson. But the guy didn`t show up until after the Sisters had to leave (they had other appointments). So he showed up and we had kind of an awkward lesson about the Plan of Salvation, but it went well and he loved it. After, we realized that he was at the Church to go to Institute, so we went for a little bit of that. Crazy night.</div>
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Anyway, the computer is going to kick me off so I`ll wrap it up</div>
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Good stuff, working hard, seeing miracles.</div>
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Love you all!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-8200381691108713612015-04-26T07:14:00.000-07:002015-04-26T07:16:56.315-07:00Letters #35 & #36#36 April 20<br />
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This week was pretty crazy. Transfer day was way crazy. After getting up super early and talking with my companion some, we arrived in Montréal. We talked for a bit, picked up some mail, and talked to the sisters who we were replacing. They had already set up some lessons for the day! and the week! It was pretty great. We were able to meet the bishop and a bunch of other members throughout the week. Elder Brewer is my new companion and he is from South Jordan Utah. He`s a runner and is pretty cool. We did a lot of figuring out the area, meeting members and investigators. One less-active we just decided to drop by. At first I was a little aprehensive, but when we knocked on the door he let us right in and gave us juice and cookies and we had an awesome little talk with him. His name is Frere Dommerc and he`s 88 years old. Super nice guy. We met some other investigators from Haiti named Sylvain, Edna, and Ednar. They have a lot of questions and seem pretty solid. WE also met Frere St. Louis. His testimony is in the March ensign and it`s the story of how he lost his leg in an earthquake in Haiti. Pretty awesome story. Then we got lost trying to take the bus to an investigators house. But it was all good. Our Ward Mission Leader is only 21 and he is preparing to serve his own mission, he just needs to work some things out. He`s super nice and speaks English, french, spanish, and I Heard he`s Learning german as well. He`s great. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1239054971" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> we have Church at 1, which is a big change. We can actually do studies in the morning now! We met more members and after we had small dinner with Elder and Sister Wassum, the senior couple in our ward. They`re from Virginia. After dinner we went and visited a potential. Her name is Candy. She`s half haitian and half dominican republican but is from Montréal. She was super accepting and even wanted to pay tithing after! We didn`t even mention tithing! So she seems like a solid investigator.</div>
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Montréal is still big and I`m still a little nervous, but It`s geting better. I`m having fun and my new companion and I are going to work hard and do some good.</div>
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#35 April 13<br />
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This week was a pretty good week. After Easter there's a huge sell on Mini eggs (you know, the chocolate kind) and the Fongs bought us a big bag of them. They were delicious. On Tuesday, I think it was, I gave myself a haircut. It's not terrible, but my companion thought I cut it too short. It'll grow back eventually, so it's okay. On Wednesday we went on an exchange with the ZLs to do some pass off lessons, but all of the one's Elder Anderson and I were supposed to go to got cancelled, so we listened to a talk by Jon Bytheway. It was pretty good. It was all about 'what is in your backpack'. It talked all about how there are a lot of things in this life that you can't change. The hike is long and hard. But you can make it easier on yourself by what you take in your backpack. It was all about attitude and what you can do to make your life and the lives of those around you easier.<br />
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Thursday we visited the Paredes again and this time they made me a cake for my birthday! No, it was not my birthday, but they wanted to make sure they celebrated it, just in case (foreshadowing?).</div>
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Friday was not our day. We had made a bunch of appointments and were going to get a ton of awesome lessons. And then they all fell through. Thankfully it ended with a really fun soccer game. Alberto (the Spaniard), the Italian, the really tall guy from Cameroon, and a kid from Iran all came. It was super fun and pretty laid back and it was a great last soccer Friday (hint hint).</div>
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Saturday morning we helped the Mcateers move. Both of them. They were actually switching places. The Bishop moved to his dad's house and his dad moved into his house. So we did 2 moves in one. Thankfully they were super prepared and we had a lot of help and there was pizza. After all that they were going to watch the Hockey game (Ottawa Senators vs. Boston. Senators won. Everyone was very happy). We were talking to Bishop Mcateer for a little bit and we told him that transfers were later that day. He guessed that I was leaving (revelation, perhaps?). Then we were able to teach a few other families. We were able to see the Nguyen family. They're Vietnamese and have been having some financial troubles, but they committed to come to church next Sunday! So we were pretty excited for them. Then we went home. Waited forever for our transfer calls. And yes, you guessed it, I am being transferred. I'm a little disappointed. I was really liking Ottawa and Elder Mataoa. It's been fun and I wish I could have stayed another transfer. Not to mention that I'm being transferred to Hochelaga. Which is in Montreal. If you don't know much about Montreal, I know that it's very big and very scary. I will be a metro missionary, I've heard, so no car. But I've heard that that is fun. And I know that I am going where I need to be. I wish I wasn't leaving, but it'll be good. And I'll be able to practice my french some more. </div>
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Will he be able to survive the metros?</div>
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Will his companion be some pyscho, or a someone pretty normal?</div>
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Tune in next week to find out on</div>
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ELDER PERKES!!!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-45432635249677728322015-04-06T19:15:00.000-07:002015-04-06T19:15:27.853-07:00Letters #32, #33 & #34<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6000003814697px;">My life had flashed before my eyes. Or just headlights </span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.6000003814697px;">Email from April 6, 2015</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Well, this week was pretty good, but I forgot to write down all that happened, so I will do what my best from memory.</span><br />
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A very scary experience this week happened after we had contacted some referrals. We were pulling out of a parking lot onto a 4 lane street near an intersection. There was a large cement sidewalk-like separator in the middle of the street. Because of this separator, my companion (who was driving) turned left onto the street, toward the intersection. As I realized what he had happened, I then commenced to panic. I raised my voice (not quite to the point of yelling) and said, "Elder Mataoa, we're on the wrong side!" He replied casually saying, "What?" The first car from the intersection turned into the road we were on, but to the lane to the left of us. "We're fine," he said. I then argued saying, "No, look at the next car!" The next car to turn onto the road was heading straight for us. My companion then said, "Oh," again in a casual manner and did a quick U-turn and pulled back into the parking lot. We then drove off on the right side of the road, my heart beating in my ears and him laughing at how scared I was. I bought ice cream that night. </div>
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2nd exciting story of the week. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_139017355" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> night, after getting home at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_139017356" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">10:00</span></span> from the Priesthood session of Conference, we were both ready for a nice long sleep so that we could stay awake for all of conference the next day. Then, a little before <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_139017357" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">2:30</span></span>, the fire alarm went off. Slightly dazed but still trained from the many years of drills in elementary school, I got up and went outside to see what was happening. I smelt something smokey, but not fire smokey, in the hallway. I didn't know what it was, so I wanted to get out, for safety. My companion sluggishly slumped out of bed, put on some clothes and we went outside. The lobby was not super smokey, but smokey nonetheless. We then walked outside, and it was freezing. Sensing no immediate danger, we waited in the entryway between the outside and lobby. Fireman came with all their gear, sledgehammers, axes, etc. So we waited hoping for some excitement. Nothing. The most exciting thing was that they used a crowbar to lift up a panel on the floor. After about 45 minutes the alarm was off and we went back to sleep in our apartment.</div>
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Apart from all that, Conference was pretty good. Lots of amazing talks. Did anyone else notice the "theme" on parenting and families? It was a pretty good Easter.</div>
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Probably my favorite line: "I can teach you to dance, but you must hear the music." ~ an old medicine man</div>
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<b>Email from March 30, 2015</b><span class="J-J5-Ji" id=":pj" style="display: inline-block; font-size: 17.6000003814697px; position: relative;"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">This week started with some pretty good cake made by the Sisters for Elder Hernandez's birthday. It was red velvet.</span></div>
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Tuesday we had a big Zone Training meeting where we talked about the new Easter Initiative, Because He Lives. It's an amazing video and I really like it. Then the Spanish Elders left. It was pretty sad, I'll miss them, but the apartment is so clean now! Which won't last very long (I'll explain later). Later that night Elder Mataoa was burning a Jolly Ranchers wrapper. It then dripped (while still on fire) on to his finger, where the plastic burned to his skin. He couldn't peel off the plastic without peeling of his skin, so he had a hole in his hand. Despite all this, he still did Insanity (intense work out program with Shawn T). The lesson learned? When lighting things on fire, make sure your hand is angled more out of the way.</div>
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Wednesday we visited a less active named Matt Chasse. He's been having some rough years, but he really wants to get back to church. He showed us around his house and fed us some wonderful venison which his dad had shot and we talked a lot. He has an amazing testimony, he just had some very trying times after his conversion. And before it, for that matter. But he's awesome and he just needs some friends in the church. </div>
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Other stuff: We were able to visit Eric this week. He's doing well and he has a new baptismal date which we will be working hard for.</div>
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Sunday was pretty ok. We did get a call from the APs again saying that Elder Bybee and Elder Shaw are coming to stay in our apartment for 2 weeks while they get a new one in Kanata. (see what I meant by not clean very long). We'll see how that goes. After church there was an Easter Devotional. I thought it was pretty good. Lots of cool uplifting songs and many wonderful talents.</div>
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A thought that I learned in Gospel Principles from our teacher:</div>
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He said that while on his mission when he had memorized D&C 4, he remembered the part when it said, "the field is white and ready to harvest". But when he imagined wheat fields, he imagined a golden field, not white. So he asked his family who asked their farmer friend. This friend explained how when the wheat field is white, it means you must do an emergency harvest, or the crop will go to waste. So technically, in this age we are in an "emergency harvest". We have to do our best and help as many people as we can, because we don't know what tomorrow will bring. A cool thought to show the importance of all of us helping in the Lord's work.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.6000003814697px;">Winter is not going down without a fight</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.6000003814697px;">Email from March 23, 2015</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">On the 2nd day of Spring it was snowy and freezing all day. And it is still freezing. Winter is fighting a losing battle, but man does he throw some hard punches.</span><br />
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Other notes... Elder Mataoa and I were sick all week, so we were unable to do much. We were able to teach our new Chinese investigator Bruce once this week and do a couple of pass-off lessons with the zone leaders, but other than that we did a lot of resting. </div>
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Other news: Emergency Transfers Round 2!</div>
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Yesterday morning as we were talking to the very bold and very British Derek who is now in our ward, we received a phone call from the APs saying that there was an emergency transfer that would affect us. My first thought was "Is Elder Mataoa getting a new Chinese companion?", but I was very wrong. The Spanish Elders, Elder Gonzalez and Elder Hernandez, are both being transferred out and their area is closing down. Elder Gonzalez is being transferred to St. Jean, my greeny area, and Elder Hernandez is being transferred to an area in Montreal. So, Elder Hernandez got emergency transferred in, and now he is being emergency transferred out. And with all this it leaves Elder Mataoa and I with the whole apartment to ourselves (and maybe the car! but we're don't know yet, so don't get your hopes up). And now the Zone Leaders and 1 other team is now in our district and Elder Mataoa is still district leader. So that was probably the most exciting thing of the week.</div>
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Cold, even freezing, but still alive,</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-71126012789782022802015-03-16T21:01:00.002-07:002015-03-16T21:01:30.242-07:00Letters #3116 March 2015 @ 10:50 a.m.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; widows: 1;">This week started with some haircuts. There is this awesome family who used to be in our ward (boundary changes) named the Wilsteds. The mom is a pro hair stylist person so she cut all our hair. So that was super nice of her. After, I went with Elder Gonzalez again and we visited one of their investigators. We were only able to stay for a little bit, but they are super fun. The 2 kids speak English and Spanish and French but the mom only speaks Spanish and French, but it was fun.</span><br />
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This week, because of all the changes, we did a few pass-off lessons and meetings, mostly with the Zone Leaders. We actually did splits with the ZLs one day, but Elder Mataoa got sick and all of the appointments that Elder Anderson and I had fell through. And there was freezing rain, which is never fun. A major contributing factor of Elder Mataoa getting sick was that we are now teaching all the Chinese members. . . Ok, so not the Chinese are getting him sick. What happened was <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_175606976" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Wednesday</span></span> we were invited by one the Chinese members to go have lunch. So we were all ready to go, but he lives all the way down in Barhaven, which is an hour bus ride. But that was no problem. What happened was when we got off the bus we had no idea where to go. . . So we wandered around for an hour until we finally called him and he met up with us. The problem with wandering around for an hour was that even though the sun was shining and it looked like a beautiful day, Elder Mataoa did not bring his coat and it was <i>very </i>windy. But he is getting better now, and the delicious Chinese food was worth it. Another Chinese story (we had a lot this week): We were at church and we were going to Priesthood and we met this Chinese man who just came on his own. He's a non-member and his name is Bruce and he really likes our church, from what I could tell. So we will be seeing him <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_175606977" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">tomorrow</span></span> and we are pretty happy to have some Chinese investigators. You could call it a little miracle if you would like.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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p.s. That is the Google Translate of Welcome in the subject, so it should be ok. </div>
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Pi Day at the Zone Leaders' Apartment - Strawberry Rhubarb</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-2851629239006765702015-03-10T21:31:00.003-07:002015-03-10T21:31:30.235-07:00Letters #29 & #302 March 2015<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">This week was pretty great. We were able to visit some less-actives and we played Volleyball with the youth on Tuesday. Wednesday Elder Mataoa woke up and forgot he was District Leader, so he made a few last minute assignments and pretty much improvised the meeting. Actually, it is more missionary like to describe it as he followed the promptings of the spirit. It turned out to be a pretty good District Meeting in the end. We talked about wow we were on a mission and why we were STILL on a mission and what we can do to become better. Later that night we went to one of the sisters' part-member families that they have been teaching and gave them a blessing. Then on Thursday we gave a blessing to a less-active in the YSA, a blessing to a less-active in our own ward who was in the hospital, and a blessing to the Sisters' investigator that just had surgery. We were very busy that day and after all that we went to the Booths, an older couple in our ward. They fed us some delicious spaghetti, and after we had some fried doctrine. The way Brother Booth explained it was that fried food is really good food, therefore fried doctrine is really good doctrine. We talked about how important it is to not only gain the trust of the people around you, but also of Heavenly Father. How you do that is keep your promises, aka, your covenants.</span><br />
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Saturday we had uneventful transfer calls (pretty much everyone is staying the same). I did hear that my trainer, Elder Hunter, is now a Zone Leader, which is pretty exciting for him. </div>
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Sunday was pretty great. It was the last testimony meeting before the big boundary changes of the stake. But we met this man named Chiddi. He's from Nigeria and was invited to come to church by his supervisor at work. He even asked for a Book of Mormon after the Gospel Principles class! So we will be following up with him sometime this week. </div>
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So it was a pretty good week.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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2 Degrees outside so Elder Mataoa decided to bring out the flip flops :-)</div>
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Canadian Pizza Pride</div>
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9 March 2015</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">So this week started with doing Splits with the Spanish Elders. We were able to visit the Paredes family. They are from Peru and I helped Hermana Paredes with her English homework, and she really appreciated it because she was able to practice more effectively with me.</span></div>
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One of the guys in our ward, Jaden Wilsted, just got his mission call and he leaves in June! It's pretty cool. We were able to have some great lessons this week and we helped the new senior couple, the Paynes (from Sandy, Utah), move in and the Adams move out. It was kind of sad to see them go. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1617306320" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">On Friday</span></span> we had an Elder Quorum Activity and all our regular non-member soccer players showed up. I didn't play soccer, but Elder Mataoa said it was fun. I was playing some card games with our members. <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1617306321" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> morning we helped move the mother of a member and she gave us some pretty good pizza.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1617306322" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">On Sunday</span></span> we had a big Stake meeting where they changed our boundaries and added a new ward! Our area is now a lot smaller, which is better for the buses. After that we visited some part-member/less-active familes with Brother Heagle, an older guy in our ward. He's pretty cool.</div>
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Not too too much, but it was a good week.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-15359312557198482202015-02-26T05:44:00.000-08:002015-02-26T05:48:38.627-08:00Letter #2823 February 2015 @ 10:45 a.m.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So we had a pretty crazy week this week.</span><br />
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We are preparing Patrick, one of the recent converts, to receive the priesthood. He's pretty solid, he just has a few feelings of inadequacy. But hey, don't we all? (I do, definitely. But I'm getting better) Tuesday night we started a split with the Zone Leaders. It was way fun. I was in Champlain area with Elder Anderson on Wednesday and we had a full day. We got smurfed by a potential investigator (she was not home at the time we set the appointment) so we were able to teach a less-active member. After that, we had an appointment with a couple of ladies from Burma. It was an odd lesson because only 1 of them understood English well enough so she was translating the whole time. At first they seemed pretty open, but then they started closing off when we started explaining modern revelation. They were very Bible centered. And then, at the very end, we found out the lady who could speak English was their preacher. . . Which explained the great memorization of the Bible. But we had an amazing DA after. It was a less-active family that the ward had been trying to contact for years, and the Champlain Elders were able to set up a Dinner Appointment. They are both in the Canadian version of the FBI, aka the RCMP, and the father was even a body guard for the Prime Minister. We had an amazing little lesson (is was short because their 3 boys who were all over the place) and we shared Ether <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_179213665" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">12:27</span></span>, which the mother really liked. We had some great conversations and as we were leaving the oldest boy asked if we could come back! </div>
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Then, <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_179213666" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Thursday</span></span>, we took Elder Artica to the bus stop and he left to Trois Riviere and then that night we picked up Elder Hernandez. He's way cool. He's from Mexico and his a cool accent.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_179213667" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Friday</span></span> was Zone Conference (yay!). We had some good trainings on how we can better work with our ward leaders. One thing that was emphasized was keeping the vision of strengthening our wards spiritually, and how some specific plans on how we can do that. Our stake goals are to 1. Strengthen individual and family spirituality 2. Learn to make and keep covenants 3. Love and serve God's children and 4. Rise out of obscurity and and shine truth and light. </div>
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Later that night we played soccer again and the Spanish Elders even got some good contacts.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_179213668" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> they announced some pretty big changes. The Ottawa stake is moving boundaries AND they reorganized our bishopric. So, some big changes are heading our way. And it is supposedly -19 degrees outside right now, not including windchill. And the snow has been coming down, which is nice because sunny days are colder than snowy days. But it's sunny right now. </div>
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Yay freezing!</div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Elder Perkes</span><br />
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Funny postcard at the Zone Leader's apartment</div>
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"Arise and Shine Forth..." Ha, they have a different idea.</div>
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Shopping at Kanata</div>
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Some pants that Elder Aritca left me</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-53793912557850349032015-02-17T16:45:00.003-08:002015-02-17T16:52:23.309-08:00Letter2 #26 & #2716 February 2015<br />
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Happy Family Day everybody! It's a civic holiday where everything is closed so our pday is <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_919454802" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">tomorrow</span></span>, but it's better to email today. Anyways, last Monday we went to Winterlude. Unfortunately, all the stores and booths were closed, so we just looked at the ice statues. They were pretty cool, though.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_919454803" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Tuesday</span></span> we watched the Hastening the Work of Salvation broadcast as a district. It's such a great broadcast and it is so helpful in explaining the role of Missionaries and Members. After that we went to Caeri Sled's house to give her a blessing. She's a recent convert and she had some medical procedures that she was going to be going through, so she wanted to us to give her a blessing. I was the one who offered it and it was great. She was so happy and thankful for it. Hopefully all will go well. That night we were invited to go ice skating with the youth! President said we could go!. . . Just not skate. . . We were disappointed. But then we had to go to English class.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_919454804" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">On Friday</span></span> we helped out with another ward Chinese New Year celebration (because my companion knew them from his first transfers and he speaks Chinese). We made a TON of dumplings, which were pretty good. Then <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_919454805" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Saturday</span></span> we were doing some planning at the church and there was a Valentines day dance, and a live band that was made up of a bunch of guys from our ward! It was super funny and we found out that our bishop could sing! and we have lots of other talented people in our ward. Right after that we were about to leave when Sister Adams (one of the senior couples) walked up to Elder Mataoa and said, "Elder Adams is going to buy you some new shoes right now." and off we went. Elder Mataoa only has 1 pair of shoes which he changes every few months. I accidentally flat-tired his shoes one day and the sole came off. He continued to wear them for a week until Elder Adams bought him some new ones. And then that night the Spanish Elders received a call saying that Elder Artica was being emergency transferred, which came to a surprise to all of us. He will being leaving <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_919454806" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday</span></span> to Trois Riviere and Elder Hernandes (an old roommate of Elder Gonazalez). The reason being is that a new Spanish missionary is coming in 2 weeks early for some reason. So that's exciting.</div>
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So exciting stuff. Hope all is well! </div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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Our district</div>
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My favorite ice sculpture</div>
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9 February 2015</div>
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Couple of things that have been happening this week:<div>
We were able to do some service for one of the Sister's investigators. She had a lot of stuff that she needed moved around and it would have taken her weeks to do it by herself. But she was very nice and we did what we could. After that, we went to the hospital where an elderly member had been staying for a couple of weeks. She had just moved from Nova Scotia but then had a hard attack. When we all walked in she was so happy. She could not talk very fast, but you could tell how much she appreciated the visit. I gave her a blessing and it was wonderful. She was so thankful and was on the verge of tears. She was so nice. Later, we visited Xander, who is now baptized along with his family. We helped him make some goals for Primary. Now we are working with Patrick, his dad, to get the Aaronic Priesthood, so that should be fun. We also did an english class on Tuesday. It was super... odd. One part-member family from our ward showed up, and only the mom sat in. She is from Ethiopia and her english is very beginner. So we tried our best to teach a little bit. I taught a little, but it wasn't awesome. The Spanish Elders say that they will be bring a few more people next week. We had a good lesson with Eric later in the week and we got a baptismal date set for him! He's cool and wants to do what is right, he just has some troubles with his work schedule and his girlfriend. But we will work it all out. We then played soccer on friday night and it was soooo fun! we had 11 people show up who all were non-members and they all had different backgrounds. We had a Spaniard, a Bulgarian, an Italian, a German, a Korean, a Mexican, and a few more. A few even started asking questions about the church! We do our best to have fun and keep it safe. I even played barefoot halfway through. It was fun.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-90688574807840946552015-01-21T19:25:00.003-08:002015-01-21T19:25:18.795-08:00Some new photos...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After cleaning the church</div>
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Frozen eye lashes<br />
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Self explanatory...<br />
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Dressing up with stuff they found at the church while clearning<br />
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Ketchup Doritos...only in Canada<br />
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Tanner is learning the Ukelele<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-89759290813733162812015-01-21T19:16:00.001-08:002015-01-21T19:16:07.265-08:00Letters #23 & #2419 January 2015<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So, not much happened until the end of this week. I went on splits with Elder Hurtado </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_930557353" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Friday</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. Elder Hurtado is going home </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_930557354" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. He was our zone leader and I learned so much from the split. We had lunch appointment where I ate half a chicken, which was way too much, and tried my first sugar pie! It was delicious. After we went to the Ottawa mission, a charity where we served food to people who were under-privileged. We met some crazy people but it was fun. I felt like I was going to explode from lunch, so I didn't eat any leftovers. After, we went to go contact some referrals that he had gotten (we were in the Champlain area). We got lost, but we asked a nice lady who showed us on her phone. The first... wasn't there. The second was there though. He was a little confused and we did our best to explain the Book of Mormon, but he seemed pretty interested. He wanted some dvds and pamphlets, so we gave him some pamphlets and said we'd come back with dvds. Then we had a lesson with Jerry, an investigator who wants to be baptized and is super solid, he just needs to straighten a few things out in his life. But it was a good lesson.</span><br />
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_930557355" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span>, not much happened. Until transfers. That was pretty crazy. So all of us are staying... Except Elder Bybee. He will be district leader in Quebec. So that was pretty exciting. And my new companion will be Elder Mataoa, which is pretty known throughout the mission. Apparently he's a cool guy. I'll find out soon enough. </div>
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But <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_930557356" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> was awesome! Right after sacrament this guy came up to me and asked if we could give him a blessing. He had super thick British accent and has been taking lessons from missionaries in Sydney (is there one in England? because my first thought was Australia, but I'm not sure). His wife is a member and will be joining him here in Canada sometime soon but he has a baptismal date for the 30! He wanted a blessing because he had noticed an increase of trials and stress as his date has gotten closer, so he wanted a blessing of comfort. It was super great. Then, later that night, we had our own baptism! Caerie, Patrick, and Xander all got baptized! It was super great and we all had a super fun time and it was just a wonderful experience for everybody. Elder Bybee baptized Caerie and Xander and Elder Artica baptized Patrick. So, good times were had by all.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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12 January 2015 (sorry this is so late)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Well, this week went by pretty well. It started off with me buying a ukulele. It's pretty great. Tuesday we had President Interviews which was great. He gave me some good advice. The best way to overcome fears is just by doing them. Unfortunately I was getting gradually sick. On wednesday I went with Elder Gonzales to one of the Spanish less-actives. It was fun, but I only understood Jesuscristo and amigo. We had some DAs with a couple of members and new years was... uneventful. I was able to write a few things in my journal and Elder Bybee yelled to me from the other room "Hey, Happy New Year!" The next day I was dead. Not really, but I was sore, sick, coughing, and gross. I've been sleeping mostly since then. But we were able to get a few lessons with different people. We visited Eric, which we will hopefully be setting a date by the next visit. Saturday we had a big snowstorm and got a few inches, then that night we had freezing rain. It looks really cool, and it was fun to smash through the layer of ice to get to the soft snow underneath.</span><br />
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Keep on keepin' on.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
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P.s. Elder Artica is looking good. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-50334359623798014522015-01-04T10:28:00.003-08:002015-01-04T10:28:47.202-08:00Pictures around Christmas time 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Some of the captions are guesses or quite generic. We're trying to convince /train </div>
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Tanner to include descriptions of the pictures to help us out :-)</div>
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Elder Bybee...maybe visiting a live nativity?</div>
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Some cool lit-up building in Ottawa...</div>
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Tanner, Elder Bybee, and Elder Gonzalos in front of the cool building</div>
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Elder Bybee in front of the cool building again...</div>
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Snowball fight!</div>
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Christmas in Ottawa!</div>
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Tanner has taken advantage of the Legos we send to keep him happy :-)</div>
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Tanner's desk</div>
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Decorations from Mom</div>
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Dinner with other elders and sisters</div>
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Cool picture by a river</div>
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Food at a member's house</div>
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Notice the Lego baby Jesus and Nativity scene</div>
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Caroling by the cool building</div>
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How they get around Ottawa</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-22404598199184689982015-01-04T09:58:00.001-08:002015-01-04T09:58:18.966-08:00Letter #2229 December 2014 @ 9 something...<br />
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Sorry this is so late...<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Well, this week has been... different. But fun. Last Monday we went Caroling at the Rideau Center. When we first got there I was terrified. I didn't know if this was a good idea if we were going to sound well if we had too many missionaries. But then we got started and everything went wonderfully. Some of the other Elders made some good contacts and one lady even asked if she could come sing with us! And she even visited the church yesterday with her brother (they weren't able to stay the whole time because they had other plans. Baby steps.)</span><br />
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2 days before Christmas Elder Bybee and I had a snowball fight with one of the sisters' investigators (he's 8 and the parents wanted us to be good friends with him. His name is Xander). Unfortunately I lost my magnetic nametag... I'll be getting a new one soon. Later that day we had a Christmas devotional with our zone. Each district sang a song and President Patrick gave a short talk at the end. He talked about the Christmas story, but the thing I remember the most is what he said right after we watched some Bible videos on the birth of the Savior. He said that he noticed that every time an angel appeared to a person, the angel would say, "Fear not." He said how it was interesting how fear is a natural instinct for man, and how we should find ways to overcome that fear.<div>
Christmas eve we went to dinner at the Heagle's, a very nice older couple. There were 3 investigators there and 2 other members. One of the members from a nearby ward was very British. His name was Derek and he's old, retired, and little... rounder. But he's got a very thick accent is very proud to be from "The Mother Country". He pretty much bashed on us "Yankees" and quizzed us on popular British songs that are sung everywhere. But he gave some good advice on how to be a little more bold when talking to strangers in a friendly setting.</div>
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Christmas was pretty great. I woke up and read about the 3 kings. After, I opened the different gifts that my family had sent me. And yes, I built all the Legos that day. We ate at the Fong Family's and skyped there as well. I skyped in the upstairs bathroom because Elder Bybee was in the den. So that was exciting. We played some fun board games.</div>
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We visited Heberwak and Wakoya on the 27. They are an older Ethiopian couple that were baptized just a few years ago. They are super nice and we ate some really good Ethiopian food.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1602039218" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> was great as well. Brother Anthony, a member from India, gave an excellent talk on making room for Christ in our busy lives. He first explained how different Christmas was when he moved to Canada. In India, they didn't really give gifts. When he moved here, it transitioned to an option, then an obligation, and now he feels like it is a complicated puzzle. Good stuff. Later that night we had dinner with the Johnson's. It was fun and we had some crackers. Not like crunchy bread stuff, but little paper tubes that you pull the ends and the go CRACK! But what was cool is that they had little prizes inside. E. Bybee got a tiny deck of cards and I got a Golf Abacus (that's for you Dad).</div>
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So, pretty eventful week. Hopefully we'll back to missionary work after the New Years. A great Mormon Message that we've been sharing with families is the "Don't Look Back". It talks about Lot from the Bible and how to move forward. Keep moving forward. We all have regrets and past mistakes, but Jesus atoned for them. With Him, we can be free from that guilt and regret when we properly repent. I'm so thankful for that knowledge.</div>
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Happy 2015!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-33718163766193847532014-12-28T20:50:00.004-08:002014-12-28T20:50:43.090-08:00Christmas Week Pictures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This is part of the collection of Legos we have been sending Tanner...something to keep his imagination working :-)</div>
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We assume this is the new church house where he is serving</div>
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Scenery...</div>
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He finally sent us proof that he is REALLY in Canada :-)</div>
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Your guess is as good as mine...</div>
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Thieves! </div>
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He loves sending us pictures which show the Canadian pride.</div>
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Missy was sooooo proud that he was actually out running!</div>
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Thanksgiving Dinner!</div>
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Thanksgiving Dinner...close up :-)</div>
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I don't think Tanner ever helped wash the car at home :-)</div>
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P-day soccer and Frisbee</div>
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Some Christmas cheer before he was transferred to Ottawa</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-55404883087544431202014-12-22T20:43:00.002-08:002014-12-22T20:43:30.428-08:00Letter #2122 December 2014 @ 11:58 AM<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">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. </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1143748847" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Friday</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> and </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1143748848" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">we 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.</span><br />
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Earlier in the week we were able to visit some different members of our ward. We helped the Fongs move <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1143748849" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> 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. </div>
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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.</div>
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Merry CHRISTmas to all of you and I hope you have a fantastic and fun-filled holiday season! Joyeuse Noel!</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-56164861387350460922014-12-15T17:29:00.002-08:002014-12-15T17:29:33.680-08:00New pictures from his new apartment in Ottawa!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Actual beds...</div>
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Bathroom...</div>
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New companion - Elder Bybee (and his messy desk)</div>
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Kitchen...</div>
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View of Ottawa from Steve's apartment</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidTteHqjcT703xwfSLODQOecKllpmTFLXmM9cCXitn-HRsFaa9XG-q9QYHuqUGf7WUoOifMHICzIeULcJLuPp8TOlm9rZlO3hJ8eEodr3wZGB0FQi64CCCx5BNqCfcTmj77MFWVUrmykIt/s1600/View+of+Ottawa.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidTteHqjcT703xwfSLODQOecKllpmTFLXmM9cCXitn-HRsFaa9XG-q9QYHuqUGf7WUoOifMHICzIeULcJLuPp8TOlm9rZlO3hJ8eEodr3wZGB0FQi64CCCx5BNqCfcTmj77MFWVUrmykIt/s1600/View+of+Ottawa.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-89062571210263007242014-12-15T17:16:00.000-08:002014-12-30T14:35:09.105-08:00Letter #2015 December 2014 @ 10:45 AM<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So! Transfers. Fun stuff there. </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849408" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Monday</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> was pretty normal p day. </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849409" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Tuesday</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> was filled with good byes and a few pictures and then </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849410" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Wednesday</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> was Transfer day. We were at the mission office early, around </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849411" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">10:00</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. 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. </span><br />
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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.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849412" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday</span></span> 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 <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849413" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">11 o'clock</span></span> news last night?" So now I'm famous. . . Not really but it was pretty cool.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849414" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Friday</span></span> 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.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849415" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> 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.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_126849416" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> 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.</div>
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We'll see how it goes.</div>
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Elder Perkes</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-16195356679083478662014-12-12T09:06:00.001-08:002014-12-12T09:06:28.913-08:00Letter #198 December 2014 @ 11:35 AM<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So, this week has been pretty exciting, if I do say so myself.</span><div>
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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.</div>
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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. . .</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1055528501" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> 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.</div>
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<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1055528502" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> 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).</div>
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Back to <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1055528503" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> night. . .</div>
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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.</div>
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sorry, Kind of a long Letter, but it was an eventful week.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Elder Perkes</span> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4083945999573912538.post-30323395773819942942014-12-01T18:37:00.000-08:002014-12-01T18:41:38.220-08:00Pictures we found on FaceBook...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b>These were all pictures posted on Facebook by Pierre Nicole, </b></div>
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<b>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.</b></div>
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Elder Perkes and Elder Hunter making breakfast.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGa1wlXOy38wkl2sOJ7Zm8YByjkNUQiOZkwTlqu94WQPGMqpvx5U6vZeLtZshqUY05RtHdP3D1jFaMo3zKF5ZUF0sxg7-cdkVmgcEulcvQ0yRCjCcCQblNASh5Nq4eo-f_OJVD6g1geTEM/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+making+breakfast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGa1wlXOy38wkl2sOJ7Zm8YByjkNUQiOZkwTlqu94WQPGMqpvx5U6vZeLtZshqUY05RtHdP3D1jFaMo3zKF5ZUF0sxg7-cdkVmgcEulcvQ0yRCjCcCQblNASh5Nq4eo-f_OJVD6g1geTEM/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+making+breakfast.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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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 :-)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfgFV7K50vqPjwqauZ-CzCG65koE-595qk7sCVGZxSayDrYvEcUlyyWH0rxr3cWB2-HKU8NTxoaTytS4CISJjGSNnPOROVwCe0BUDvwWmQ9CcyKLLh4ebezpr7SYEwhT6m4qra1UxT5Laf/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+on+bikes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfgFV7K50vqPjwqauZ-CzCG65koE-595qk7sCVGZxSayDrYvEcUlyyWH0rxr3cWB2-HKU8NTxoaTytS4CISJjGSNnPOROVwCe0BUDvwWmQ9CcyKLLh4ebezpr7SYEwhT6m4qra1UxT5Laf/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+on+bikes.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Elder Perkes and Elder Hunter praying for inspiration.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOlrLgkllZtv-NQLIn71avtTpc858dpbA7rdcO3DrZx2NNiGkpzF1DEBmBUuG586MVWd4X4A-f2mdpIz74Xk8lIDj-42avT1CUvkxl1uF5eZhQCmR50kZCjhLRB5h99g_TrkMYmhKKNWEq/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+praying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOlrLgkllZtv-NQLIn71avtTpc858dpbA7rdcO3DrZx2NNiGkpzF1DEBmBUuG586MVWd4X4A-f2mdpIz74Xk8lIDj-42avT1CUvkxl1uF5eZhQCmR50kZCjhLRB5h99g_TrkMYmhKKNWEq/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+praying.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Elder Perkes and Elder Hunter discussing after a discussion.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiME7mdqEsGChu-t4sPaAFsdemEu-A9POfS67cFpetfI-gXMq3ZIYpcQD-5Y-b8c9LsonVSX5XFgVeVBd_8J7OGGWIat3HUsOwfD5CTKO8-b1yU5T0BzCudFAuvh3rvaRt-BHr0q1b3tohj/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+teaching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiME7mdqEsGChu-t4sPaAFsdemEu-A9POfS67cFpetfI-gXMq3ZIYpcQD-5Y-b8c9LsonVSX5XFgVeVBd_8J7OGGWIat3HUsOwfD5CTKO8-b1yU5T0BzCudFAuvh3rvaRt-BHr0q1b3tohj/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+teaching.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4HpH8hQL6B-aiX71sOjsoSu9t_Ai6GDHXuYT8l1sJsmTtw0TTi8WRW1yV0cTWhEnDzqvS12UY-syj9Oyu7DlkP0QuGAWKgkTPz1IgUhjVxaIuZr8mdGqGpQLsRHHUzeOok7oM-Ax_75S/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+working.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4HpH8hQL6B-aiX71sOjsoSu9t_Ai6GDHXuYT8l1sJsmTtw0TTi8WRW1yV0cTWhEnDzqvS12UY-syj9Oyu7DlkP0QuGAWKgkTPz1IgUhjVxaIuZr8mdGqGpQLsRHHUzeOok7oM-Ax_75S/s1600/Tanner+and+Elder+Hunter+working.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Elder Perkes enjoying his missionary tag.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCoxN8MdoiG7H_Wy9vI4fQ8HNjptdFXZmUN9j_9i3OVXbN-RJTVQH9svibDuPoed1bX8RpDRD7VczKGRzoAsMnaAZzDilhUDPlUjn1ai6mi_kS-snXjOU7LIEP3ot_2cfuArH5kPqg58u/s1600/Tanner+and+his+tag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCoxN8MdoiG7H_Wy9vI4fQ8HNjptdFXZmUN9j_9i3OVXbN-RJTVQH9svibDuPoed1bX8RpDRD7VczKGRzoAsMnaAZzDilhUDPlUjn1ai6mi_kS-snXjOU7LIEP3ot_2cfuArH5kPqg58u/s1600/Tanner+and+his+tag.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Elder Perkes serving breakfast.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAFoQx0BZl0l_AY1DFIET59fTw4uQYJEOb8mvw-YmtArVtePCbaOUGQYzIJ6ledZa5p01g2409ga2BDrY3wcUwmp-f7V2KnijvJv5bL3JpCRy-Om0j39eM7D-ZflGmwe3fE8T0OoxLHqFU/s1600/Tanner+fixing+breakfast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAFoQx0BZl0l_AY1DFIET59fTw4uQYJEOb8mvw-YmtArVtePCbaOUGQYzIJ6ledZa5p01g2409ga2BDrY3wcUwmp-f7V2KnijvJv5bL3JpCRy-Om0j39eM7D-ZflGmwe3fE8T0OoxLHqFU/s1600/Tanner+fixing+breakfast.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0