October 14, 2013

We had home-made turkey dinner on Saturday with  the senior missionaries here in Dryden and then Sunday we got invited over to some of our investigators dad's house and had another home-made Turkey dinner with their entire family, and today we have another home-made turkey dinner at one of our Part-member families house out in the bush and got invited to another house today for another Turkey dinner but we already have the other one to go to so we had to turn down a turkey dinner. So yeah, I guess needless to say we have had and will continue to have our fair share of turkey dinners this Thanksgiving and thank goodness we didn't have to cook a turkey, if we did I would have probably just thrown it in a pot of water and boiled it or something!

  

This past week was pretty good. We had lots of people come out to all of the weekly activities that we put on throughout the week, including on Monday we had some members come out to our FHE which was great, and that night when we were planning they decided to give us a call and told us to come downstairs from our apartment and so we did and found President and Sister Haessler with probably over $100 of groceries for us because they decided that we were starving and that "the lord's servants need to be fed so that the work in Dryden can continue to move forward." It was such a great blessing and such a great example of true Christlike love and charity, especially because we know that they don't have a ton of money in the first place! Definitely made my week and helped me see how much a little bit of charity for others can make someone feel loved. It was great to be on the receiving end this time around!

Tuesday we visited members homes following up on things from conference and helped out at the Dryden mission for a bit, had dinner and went and visited some more of our investigators and went looking and trying to find new ones as well! And then we went to the church and worked on some family history training.

Wednesday we had our district meeting and went back to sister T's house and helped her brother finish filling in the hole and other landscaping, then we had dinner at the Haesslers and had our first bible study (people actually came!) and it was a great night and a great study!

Thursday we went out and helped at Aaron park by splitting and bagging more wood and then we went to the DNFC and helped clean up there and invited them to Yoga and had some [pretty good conversations. We went over to fill out some volunteer forms at a place and were able to have a lesson with X. She just got back from a trip and told us how she had tons of prayers answered and how things have been going better for her lately. Then the X had us over for Dinner and then we had Yoga night and brought the same less-active member out there and we had a pretty good turnout again.

Friday we did our weekly planning and stopped by some of our investigators and mowed one of their lawns and then we went over to X with the Tambres and had another good lesson and talk with her and then we came home and the Kenora Elders came over for exchanges the next day.

Saturday we helped out the Haesslers and fed their cats (all four of them) and their fish while they are out of town, did a bit of tracting with the new elder Gardner that I went on exchanges with then all four of us went to the Dryden mission and helped out X and he was so excited and happy to have all of us there to help. After that we split up again and went and had some visits with some people I had never met but finally got to meet and contacted some of our other investigators. Then we came home, had a turkey dinner with the Tambres, and then the Kenora Elders went home. We went to President Vahovicks and helped him put up some more fluorescent lights in his shop and had a good correlation meeting with him.

Sunday we had a record of 20 people at church it was great, had two separate investigators come along with another former investigator and also a new member who moved to Sioux lookout came and others from far out of Dryden also came. We had good gospel principles classes and good priesthood classes. Later we did some more training and bible study preparation, went and had another turkey dinner with one of our investigator families and her extended family and had some really good conversations about the church and what we do and what we believe. It was super effective and the dinner was great. Later we went back to the church and cleaned out the baptismal font and then we tried to unclog the drain and raw sewage started to back up which was pretty gross!

-Love Elder Shane Dola

October 7, 2013

Week was pretty good; can always be better but overall it was great!  Overall I loved conference. I am pretty sure this was the first time I have watched all 5 sessions of conference but all of the speakers did great and lots of powerful messages pertaining to members becoming more member missionaries in heeding the work of Salvation! Yoga was a pretty good success, not as many people came out as I had hoped, only one lady we didn't know came and then there was Elder Elliott and I and President Vahovick and President and Sister Haessler came too. Then N of course who did great this time being his first time actually teaching a class but he enjoyed it and will be coming out two more times before he leaves for the season and heads back to Alberta.

We watched conference at the church here. We have a satellite and set up the projector and what not, and we also watched a session with two of our investigators at their home!

Monday we had P-day and tracted a bit and met some really nice people and invited them to Yoga.

Tuesday we had district meeting, volunteered at the Dryden Mission, had a good dinner appointment with one of our investigators, and stopped by a few others.

Wednesday we helped out at the food bank and community gardens, and the Tambres were gone so we couldn't teach J, but we had a really good conversation on the doorstep and learnt a lot and helped her out quite a bit.  Then we mowed another of our investigators lawn for him because he had to cancel and take his sick baby to the hospital, and then we had our bible study, even though we still haven't had anyone come out yet.

Thursday was super busy. We went to Aaron Park and split and bagged a ton of wood and had some really good conversations with N. His wife was there for the first time so we were able to answer a lot of questions about what we do as missionaries. Then we went, and for the second week in a row, bought a dozen donuts and ate them all for lunch before we went to volunteer at the DNFC and then volunteered at the Go-Getters. Then we went to help out a lady again and finally got her a giant Book of Mormon so that she can read it but we haven't been able to give it to her yet. Then we had Yoga night, which was pretty successful, and everyone enjoyed it, and more will come out next week!

Friday we went out to President Vahovick's and helped him put up some fluorescent lights in his shop and had a lunch with him and his wife. Then we came back into town and visited the N's, then did our weekly planning session, and went to the Masonic Hall open mic with M and D and met few nice people there.

Saturday we watched the morning session of conference and spent the rest of our free time trying to get investigators out to the rest of the sessions. We watched the afternoon session with M and D and had another great meal with them and were able to answer a lot of their questions about the church and the conference and what not.  We went to the priesthood session as well.

Sunday we went to conference and had J come out in the morning. No investigators were able to come in the afternoon, but it was still good. Later that day we went and visited with a family who we hadn't been able to contact in over a month and had really good talk with them. They really opened up and we learnt a lot, and we set up an appointment to help move a washing machine into their car on Monday!

I love you too! Also you should see the hat I got the other day it's sheepskin, super nice and warm, you'd love it!

-Love Elder Shane Dola