My week was pretty good. But seriously, everyone here
has at one point in time, lived in Medicine Hat or knows someone who lives
there, so it really doesn't really feel like I am on a mission sometimes just
another day at home...
Monday we had P-day
Tuesday we had a great meeting with a
less-active member and we read scriptures with him with Brother R and he really
wants to come back to church and committed to come this week. Also had a
meeting with our new branch mission leader (Bro R) who is great and we’re
truly going to do great things with him! Then had lunch (Bro R took
us to A&W) Later we went to the Old Folks Place (Hill top Manor) and
helped all of the old people play some card Bingo.
Then had dinner and then had basketball night,
which was pretty good; not as many people came but still was fun. I clotheslined this one guy
accidentally but it was his fault and he was all right so it was all good.
Wednesday we a good district meeting and went
for lunch at some pita/donair place then went and also stopped by a bunch of
different locations to see if we could go and volunteer there. We had some
success. We stopped by some former investigators and found a few new potentials
and handed out a few copies of the Book of Mormon to some people who committed
to read it. Then we had a great lesson with C and K on the
Plan of Salvation, which they loved but at this point C said, "I
have nothing against you guys coming over and teaching us, because it's interesting
to learn and I enjoy it. I like your doctrine and it is a lot more comforting
than what I believe and what is taught at my church but I am Evangelical and am
not changing," so we'll just have to continue working with them. In time
we'll see what happens. K still knows he needs to read the Book of Mormon
and plans on doing so. We then had dinner and had a lesson on having more
effective prayers with P and A.
Thursday we made some pass-along cards and met G at the Pizza Place where he works and read with him
"Like a Broken Vessel" and he loved it and committed to setting a better example to his Girl
Friend and not drinking and letting her know that that is not what he wants to
do or what he believes in any more. Then we had lunch at Welsh Kitchen for
free (Sister J and her family own it) and were able to meet and talk to
a lot of other people we know. Later we placed some more copies of the Book of
Mormon, stopped by some more formers and potentials, and found a few more
potentials, and followed up on a non-member referral for his mother and that
was good. Then we had dinner and helped Brother R move a stove to a house. And I slipped for the first time on my mission on the ice
(earlier that day Elder Stoker and I had stated how neither of us had slipped
and fallen on the ice our entire mission). Then we saw G again at his
request, and he told us how he told his Girlfriend he didn't want to drink or be
associated with that any-more and she accepted and that was great because he is
super hesitant and scared to do things like that!
Friday was a rough day. We were getting and
ready and started our weekly planning and later one of us used the toilet only
to find that we no longer had water in our entire house. So we called our
landlord ,who lives in Cardston, and he had no idea what was going on or what
to do! So we went about the rest of the day with our weekly planning, stopped
by the mental institution (Tatagwa View) and set an appointment so we could
come back and volunteer there later. Then we met a man named who once was investigating the church while he lived in Medicine Hat, and he
met us at "neutral grounds" (A&W) and bought us Root Beer's and
we had a good talk with him and gave him a Book of Mormon (he lost his) and he
committed to read it, hopefully we will see him again. Then we stopped by a
potential, who cut my hair, and had a good talk with him. Then we
came back home and tried to have dinner and rinse off my head and my back
because I was super itchy from the hair cut, but there was still no water so I
had to lint-roll my head, and we couldn't really make anything because we
couldn't wash our dishes (we have like 4) so I think we just ate a banana or
something or a piece of bread maybe. We then went out to McTaggart, but had no
success. We came home and planned and had to do something with the toilet so we
could flush it so we got some snow and filled the toilet with it (not thinking
until after that it would be much faster if we boiled it or at least melted it
first, so we got more snow and melted it and boiled it to melt the other snow
but to our dismay and after much hard work, the toilet still wouldn't flush and
it was starting to get late so we went to bed.
Saturday we woke up and still no water, so we
had to go to the truck stop across the highway from our trailer (our trailer is
on the outskirts just outside of town so on one side of our trailer we have a
train track about 50 yards away, so we get to hear all of the trains, and then
on the other side is a main highway, and since they are not in city limits, engine
retarder brakes are still good to use, so we get to hear all of the Big
Semi-trucks make extremely loud noises on the other side of our trailer) and
had to pay a whole $3.15 to take a shower (which was actually really nice, the nicest
shower I had my whole mission) We had studies, and then went to get an
oil-change, and when we went outside we met up with our landlord, who followed
us to the dealership and we dropped off the car and he took us to Tim Horton's
and we had a good talk with him while the oil was getting changed. After that
we made the trek out to Francis and had a great meal with the L's (Member
Family from South Korea) and their nephew was there and so were three other
young guys from B.C. But the dinner was great! Super good and then the best
part was we were able to teach Brother L's nephew, who was hesitant at first
and didn't want to know anything, but we had a good discussion (despite his
strong Korean accent) and taught him about Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father
for the first time and taught him his purpose and the restoration. He
absolutely loved it and was super receptive, committed to read and pray about
the Book of Mormon, and even said the closing prayer. The spirit was super
strong and his whole attitude and desire had changed in a short time of less
than 45 minutes. After that we came back into town and stopped by a few other
people. One guy who we were going to teach slammed the door in our face. And
then we came back and ate dinner and then taught P and A the
importance of coming to church and not worrying about having kids there. We had
Brother B come with us (who has 4 kids under the age of 6) and it went
pretty well.
Sunday we woke up G and D Stewardson and
they came to church. So did J (bro. Lim's nephew) for the first time in his
life and he was super interested and asked a ton of questions, which was super
great. We had sacrament meeting and then taught Gospel Principles and taught
about Prayer and J had more great questions and loved it, and understood it,
and accepted it very well, and said another closing prayer at the end of that
lesson. We then had a meeting with Brother R and had an appointment later
on with Greg B's parents, which turned out unexpectedly to be a dinner
appointment as well so we ate dinner and then went to the R's and had
dinner there too and had a good discussion with them. The Estevan Elders were
there also because they had to come down because they discovered an outbreak of
black mold in their apartment and that was getting taken care of. After that
though we came home.
But it's great to hear from you hope that all is
well and that you continue to do well. Love you!
-Love Elder Shane Dola
 |
| Collecting snow for the toilet |
 |
| Melting the snow |
 |
| Dinner when we make it. |
 |
| Dinner at a member family. |
