Letters #35 & #36

#36 April 20

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. Sunday 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.

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.

Elder Perkes

#35 April 13

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.

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?).

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).

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. 

Will he be able to survive the metros?

Will his companion be some pyscho, or a someone pretty normal?

Tune in next week to find out on

ELDER PERKES!!!

[cue credits]

Letters #32, #33 & #34

My life had flashed before my eyes. Or just headlights 
Email from  April 6, 2015

Well, this week was pretty good, but I forgot to write down all that happened, so I will do what my best from memory.

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. 

2nd exciting story of the week. Saturday night, after getting home at 10:00 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 2:30, 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.

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.

Probably my favorite line: "I can teach you to dance, but you must hear the music." ~ an old medicine man

Elder Perkes

When Jolly Ranchers Attack

Email from March 30, 2015

This week started with some pretty good cake made by the Sisters for Elder Hernandez's birthday. It was red velvet.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

A thought that I learned in Gospel Principles from our teacher:

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.

Elder Perkes

Winter is not going down without a fight

Email from March 23, 2015

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.

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. 

Other news: Emergency Transfers Round 2!

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.

Cold, even freezing, but still alive,

Elder Perkes

Letters #31

16 March 2015 @ 10:50 a.m.

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.

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 on Wednesday 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 very 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 tomorrow and we are pretty happy to have some Chinese investigators. You could call it a little miracle if you would like.

Elder Perkes

p.s. That is the Google Translate of Welcome in the subject, so it should be ok. 

Pi Day at the Zone Leaders' Apartment - Strawberry Rhubarb

Letters #29 & #30

2 March 2015

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.

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. 

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. 

So it was a pretty good week.

Elder Perkes

2 Degrees outside so Elder Mataoa decided to bring out the flip flops :-)

Canadian Pizza Pride

9 March 2015

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.

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. On Friday 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. Saturday morning we helped move the mother of a member and she gave us some pretty good pizza.

On Sunday 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.

Not too too much, but it was a good week.

Elder Perkes

Letter #28

23 February 2015 @ 10:45 a.m.

So we had a pretty crazy week this week.

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 12:27, which the mother really liked. We had some great conversations and as we were leaving the oldest boy asked if we could come back! 

Then, on Thursday, 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.

Friday 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. 

Later that night we played soccer again and the Spanish Elders even got some good contacts.

Sunday 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. 

Yay freezing!

Elder Perkes

Funny postcard at the Zone Leader's apartment

"Arise and Shine Forth..." Ha, they have a different idea.

Shopping at Kanata

Some pants that Elder Aritca left me

Letter2 #26 & #27

16 February 2015

Happy Family Day everybody! It's a civic holiday where everything is closed so our pday is tomorrow, 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.

Tuesday 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.

On Friday 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 on Saturday 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 Wednesday 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.

So exciting stuff. Hope all is well! 

Elder Perkes

Our district

My favorite ice sculpture

9 February 2015

Couple of things that have been happening this week:

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.

Elder Perkes

Some new photos...

After cleaning the church

Frozen eye lashes

Self explanatory...

Dressing up with stuff they found at the church while clearning

Ketchup Doritos...only in Canada

Tanner is learning the Ukelele