Monday, March 31, 2014

March 31


Monday we had P-day and while e-mailing at the library we were asked if we could help sort some books for a big book sale that they were doing here so we went and helped with that which is good! It at least shows that people are still aware that we are here and that they can turn to us for help.

Tuesday we walked to D's home and had a good meeting with him and were able to give him a priesthood blessing, We then walked down to the newspaper office to try and see why they hadn't published our newspaper article, but the lady wasn't there so we went on and contacted a few former investigators and a referral that D just gave us and knocked a few other doors but no luck contacting anyone. We then went back to the newspaper office and she apologized and set up a new appointment for us to be interviewed. We then walked up to the church and were there for a while before we walked over to hill top manor and helped the old people play their card-bingo game again. Then we went home and had dinner and then tried stopping by some other formers in town and one told us to come back later, that she might be interested, just needed to talk with her grandpa. 

Wednesday we had district meeting and then Elder McGregor headed back to Estevan to go on an exchange. We got there and went to the Humane Society and I said I would go only if they didn't make us scoop poop. So we got there and they had us clean up garbage in the front yard and then the backyard where they had the dog run, which was good because there was no poop involved but then the worker guy comes out with a huge grin on his face, and hands us these pooper scoopers and we ended up cleaning up like 30 pounds of dog poop, so that was disgusting and I was not too impressed. Then we helped by playing with a few cats and there were some kittens that looked like Gremlins. Then we went and had a dinner appointment with Sister L, which was good. Then we went and tried to contact some other less-active and former investigators but no one was home, even though they all had their lights on, so we came home.

Thursday was a really good day. We went and visited with a less-active member in Estevan who is from the Philippines who really wants to be able to come to church but just can't because he is working to get his permanent residence here in Canada and if he misses or doesn't keep his work contract he gets deported back home. He's a super great guy was great to meet him. Then we left Estevan and travelled out an hour and a half to Carievale and I got to meet the newest investigators in our District. They are super great people. He works on the Rigs and the last kind of guy you would expect to see from working there. They were originally contacted because they requested a bible from the mormon.org website and so the week previous Elder Dillon and McGregor went down to give them the Bible, but he was super open and had them for lunch and they taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon, and they said that they wanted to read it even before the Elders could invite them too. Was super great. Then I got to meet them and he is super nice, felt like we were best friends even though we had just barely met. She is just as nice too and is super new to religion and just started getting into it since she met him (hence why they wanted a copy of the Bible) But anyway they cooked us a great pork-chop,rice, and fries dinner with carrot cake, and then we had a super good lesson with them. It was probably like no other lesson I had taught before because we covered so many different things in a strange order (We started the lesson and they told us how they had been reading the book of Mormon together and to their kids and that they had watched both Finding Faith in Christ and The Restoration DVD's and we led into just doing a quick overview on the restoration but that wasn't really necessary because they had already understood all of it, we then started talking about temples and all that goes on in there, then we lead into the Plan of Salvation which went super well and we touched on our life on Earth and The Gospel of Jesus Christ and  lead to the invitation to be baptised!) But they were super receptive and really interested the whole time, nothing could distract them and most importantly the spirit was super strong! and when were talking about baptism she was super excited and expressed how she hadn't been baptised, and we invited both to be baptised and they accepted. It was super great, never had seen anyone so prepared than these two people were. Afterwards we had told them that we would play Street Hockey with them and their kids and we were playing a card game for a bit so that the one daughter could have a bit longer of a nap and out of nowhere he started asking more questions like "What do you guys expect of us" and other things which lead into more gospel conversations which was super good. After that we played Street Hockey with them and their kids and a bunch of other local kids showed up and played for a while which was super fun. As we were leaving he told us the next time we came back that we should brings some members of our church, because he wanted to get to know some more Mormons. Like I said he is the most prepared person I have met on my mission. After that we travelled back to Estevan and  had a quick dinner before we had a coordination meeting with Brother Johnson.

Friday we got up and went to the Hospital and had the old people play instruments again, even though only 3 or 4 of them really had any idea what was going on. This one lady in a wheelchair was shaking Elder McGregor's hand and then pulled herself in towards him and was trying to get him to kiss him, so that freaked him out a bit and was pretty funny. After that we came back to Weyburn and had lunch and then finished our Exchange and Elder Hornberger and I had our interview at the newspaper and we will have our article published this Friday hopefully. We got a few texts later on telling us that they heard Elder Hornberger and I on the radio which was pretty exciting to hear, hopefully something will come up because of that. Link to the article.


Then we had our quarterly interviews with President Thomas and had dinner and then Elder Hornberger and I went and helped out at the senior Center Drop off Center by helping clean up their huge dinner that they had. Then we met G at KFC, where he was with the other Elders because he was having a tough time, but we were able to help him through and he said he could feel with our presence the spirit lift him up and he felt a lot better.

Saturday we all went out to the A's kids birthday party and got to eat a ton of food and meet all of their friends and got to meet Sister A's Parents who just arrived in Canada from the Philippines the night previous. They didn't know much English and were super jet-lagged but we were able to meet them and hopefully we will be able to teach them (that is the goal that the A's have) Later Elder Dillon and I visited G and helped him out with a few other things.

Sunday we went to Church and had a great fast and testimony meeting and G came and bore his testimony and also S was there as well so that was great to see that she came out and seemed to have a good time. Later we went to the Gospel services and that was more interesting then the previous times. The preacher ladies kept making subtle attacks in their sermons towards us so that was kind of funny. Afterwards we met and were able to  fellowship with a bunch of the congregation there and gave the one preacher lady the first few Books of the Book of Mormon on CD so that she could listen to them because she has a hard time reading and she accepted happily (she had requested them) then we had a great dinner appointment at the Regnier's home which was even better because Brother Regniers non-member mother was there and we later shared a message with their whole family. We left shortly after and came home, stopped by a couple the other Elders had met the other day, and gave a few pamphlets and a copy of the Book of Mormon to them.

But I love you and hope that you have a good week, and will continue to pray that your back continues to get better! Take care love you.

-Love Elder Shane Dola

P.S. Please thank grandma and grandpa Schultz for the cards and packages they continually send me, They are greatly appreciated, tell them I love them! Thanks!

Really packing on the pounds lately!

Gremlin kitty at Humane Society in Estevan.

Monday, March 24, 2014

March 24

This week wasn't all too exciting or much better but I guess it could be worse!

Monday was our P-day so we e-mailed a bit and then went bowling with the Canadian Mental Health Association then e-mailed some more and then went and got our groceries and thankfully we were able to get a ride home from the members; that was a blessing. We tried to stop by a few other people that night but that didn't turn out so well.

Tuesday, we walked to our appointment with D and had a good meeting with him, and stopped by a service referral at the senior centre so we will be able to help them clean up one of their events on Thursday. Then we went to the post office to pick up the package, because I remember Dad asking if there was a subway in town so I was thinking there probably was a Subway Gift Card in there. When we got to the post office I was excited until I gave the sheet to the lady at the desk and she said "Oh good, I sure hope this is that huge parcel!" then she came back and plopped this huge package that weighed like 40 lbs down, and at that point I realized that that was not going to fit in my backpack, but nevertheless we didn't really have any other choice than to take it, and so we walked down the street carrying the huge box, probably looking super ridiculous! But we got to Subway and that was good but after that I had to carry it all the way to the library! But we got there and did some research on some more service opportunities and then thankfully Brother Regnier picked us up to take us to our appointment that we had with a Less active lady. Which unfortunately she cancelled on us and said she had been thinking a lot since we saw her the last week before and wasn't interested any more, so we all left her with our testimonies and Brother Regnier said he was going to try getting back to her later on which will be good! We then went to Hill-top manor and helped them play Bingo with their cards again. Then we walked home and had dinner and walked back into town a bit and talked with people on the streets and stopped by a few former investigators and tracted a few houses with no success. However when we were walking back Elder Hornberger stepped on what appeared to be solid ice, which was not, and fell through into a huge hole up to his shins, so that was pretty hilarious as his shoe filled with water.

Wednesday, we had district meeting and washed our dishes at the church and then we had lunch and then walked around town talking to some people and followed up with a few more service referrals from a few other people. It didn't really turn out too well but then we went to the radio station and they, out of nowhere, just did an interview of us and took a picture to make an article for us for their website or newspaper, I am presuming, but that was good. We also ran into another Less Active lady who works there that we have been trying to contact for quite a while, then walked home and had a quick dinner and made some phone calls, then walked back and had a good basketball night following by having to walk home and being exhausted. 

Thursday, we had an appointment at A&W again, which went pretty good. Then we went to the Welsh Kitchen and had a good Roast Beef dinner and were able to set an appointment up with Sister J and talk to a few other people. Then we stopped by a few other service referrals and they all took our number but other than that, we had not too much other success. But yeah, after that we came home and tried contacting a few other people who all told us to leave them alone.

Friday, we tried helping out at Tatagwa view but there wasn't really anything that we could do to help so we left and did a few things at the Library on mormon.org because it was freezing. It was like -30 with the wind chill coming out of nowhere! Later we got to visit with K and C, even though they don't want us to try to teach them any more, they still want to be friends and wanted to meet Elder Hornberger. Then we got a ride home thankfully and out of nowhere Brother Morrissette phoned us and invited us over for Chinese food at his house in Celebration that Dakota (One of the members who is boarding at his house) got his mission call to Peru! So we did that and helped them with their Book of Mormon reading challenge and then they took us home.

Saturday, we weekly planned and had a good long missionary coordination with brother Regnier and discussed a lot of people and just trying to figure out more of what we can even do any more. We did some investigating to try and figure out some information about people on the membership records. But after that we came home, after washing our dishes at the church again, and then had dinner, and then the Estevan Elder's came and luckily we were able to take their car and visited P and A.

Sunday, we had church, which was good. We had High Council from Regina come and gave some good talks. Unfortunately, no Less Actives or Investigators came out but after that we went to the Regnier's for dinner, and that was great. We shared with them more how to make mormon.org profiles and how they can use it more effectively in their own missionary efforts, and came home and tried to set appointments but just ended up in more people being busy or telling us to leave them alone, so not too much else happened that day. 

But I love you too! I hope that you have a great week and take care!

-Love Elder Shane Dola


Beautiful view's of the good ol' trailer park that I have when looking out the only two windows in our trailer that actually are not boarded up!

Monday, March 10, 2014

March 17

March 17, 2014

Week was pretty good, still no car probably not for 2 or so more weeks! It's nice except it's super wet and muddy! but yeah it's still good! We are still on foot been walking everywhere, super muddy but has dried up a little bit lately! 

This week not too much happened. We got major shin splints from walking a total of over 62 Km this week (I calculated on Google maps our routes 9 KM on Monday 20 KM on Tuesday 5 KM on Wednesday 14 KM on Thursday 6 KM on Friday and 1 KM on Saturday 7 KM on Sunday!!!) which doesn't seem like much but it really is when you're used to driving everywhere so yeah that was fun. We've been super tired all week and it's so bad because our trailer court is almost 4 KM out of town!

But yeah, Monday we walked to Chiropractor, then to the post office, then to the library, then to Wholesale foods and then we carried our groceries all the way home.

Tuesday, we went to D, had a good visit with him, then we got some police record checks done for service for E. Hornberger, then we walked to Tatagwa View, then we walked home, then we walked all the way to Hill Top manor and helped the old people play cards, then we walked all the way home for dinner, and then we walked all the way to Knox hall for our Basketball night. Then fortunately, one of our friends who goes there, gave us a ride home. I don't think we would have made it back otherwise!

Wednesday, we had district meeting and then met the ladies from the "Gospel Services" Church thing at the Welsh kitchen because they wanted to meet us there for lunch but when we got there, it was closed because the plumbing all backed up so we ended up going to KFC and they so kindly bought us lunch unexpectedly and we had a good discussion on our beliefs and their beliefs and why they're missionaries for their whole life and why we are missionaries and what not. Had a good conversation until the topic of the Book of Mormon came out and then the one lady was really interested while the other just started bible-bashing with us and the the lady that was more interested seemed to believe the points that we were making but in the end we just let them know we could sit here all day and do this or you can just read it and pray about it, so the lady that was more interested said that she would do that! Then we left and walked to the Library and worked a bit more on LA information then came home, had dinner, and went to Church of Christ Bible study. We had a good time, people there are super friendly and one lady is going to let us share with her our message. Then we walked all the way home.

Thursday, we almost died. We had a list of tons of people we wanted to stop by and see all around town and didn't want to be going home until the end of the day so we literally walked around all day, but it was very successful. Everyone that we planned to stop by was home and we were able to talk to them and find out more of whether they were interested or not and even set up a few appointments. Then as we were walking back on the verge of total fatigue, we were greeted by one of our LA families, and we were invited in and they got to meet Elder Hornberger and then they drove us home, otherwise it would have been another 4+ KM walk and we were even more exhausted than on Tuesday!

Friday, we weekly planned and went to the Mental health Association and then went to the mall to follow up on some more service referrals. Then we were picked up by Estevan Elders, who came into town because they were watching a wedding on Skype the next morning. They cut my hair and went to a dinner appointment and then President Tiefenbach and his wife picked Elder Hornberger and I up and we went to the Temple and helped do baptisms for the dead. It was super great,  my first time there and first time in a temple for almost a year. Then we came home and Sister L had bought us a bunch of Costco muffins, which was great.

Saturday, we studied and spent most of the rest of the day co-ordinating things with Estevan and other areas out of town. Then we had to study and read the new information we got on our on-line proselyting that we are going to start soon. Then we went to the Relief Society social, where the whole branch was there, and had a super good time. It was potluck and there was all kinds of great foods! Especially all of the Korean foods, was super great.

Sunday, we called G and he said he isn't coming to church, that he and his girlfriend are now looking for the right church for them, so we didn't have any investigators  at church until  J showed up right after the sacrament was administrated. So that was good to at least see her there! Then we had a great potluck dinner (have one every third sunday) so it was super good, probably the best potluck I had ever gone too!! Then we went home and walked to the Gospel Services Church and on our way there we were walking down the street and there were 4 or 5 young adults standing there and they started talking to us and then one guy leans over to his friend and puts his arm around him and says "Do you want to watch me kiss this boy?!?!" to which Elder Hornberger replied "No, not really" and we continued walking and Elder Hornberger stopped to tie his shoe and the guys yelled back at us and so we turned around and he dropped his pants and full on mooned us in the middle of the street! It was quite hilarious nevertheless. But we got to the service and sang more songs to the same melody of our hymns and it was a pretty good service. As it was done I was thinking if us being there was really worth our time and just as we were leaving a lady stopped us who we had talked to last week and asked us to come by her house sometime, which was a miracle! Then when we were walking back down the street, this lady in a truck pulled over and shared with us how she was a Less-active member and was baptized 3-4 years ago and has been in Weyburn the last 1.5 years and wanted to come back to church but she couldn't find any information and just happened to see us as we were walking home which was another miracle! Was super good way to finish our day off.

Today we walked to the Library and then to the Mental Health Association and went Bowling with them and now we are back e-mailing!

But thanks so much you take care! Love you! 



-Love Elder Shane Dola

Meh............ this week was pretty horrible

Meh this week was pretty horrible. Started out all right but then not so good:
Monday we went and had our P-day and visited with G and M (another lady we know from going to the Church of Christ Bible Study) for a while. He is still doing good, just tired from not being so accustomed to working 40 hours a week, but it is good for him and he has been enjoying it otherwise.

Tuesday we went and visited D for a while and he was not doing so well health-wise but is still strong with his testimony, doing all that he can at the present time. After that we stopped by a few others Elder Stoker wanted to say good-bye to and had lunch. He packed a bit and we went out to the Hill Top Manor and helped the old people play their Bingo game again, which was pretty good. I had as good as a conversation as I could there with A. After that we came home and Estevan Elder's came, had dinner, and then we had basketball night, which was really good, especially compared to the last 2 weeks. More people came and we got a pretty good game going, and were able to give a Book of Mormon to a new guy that came out with J (guy who has come every-time) and he said that he wanted to read it before we could even invite him to, so that was good. We then came home and Elder Stoker finished packing.

Wednesday was not the greatest of days. We got up and drove to Moose Jaw for a Zone Training Meeting and to drop off Elder McRitchie and Elder Stoker for transfers, but it was almost white-out conditions the whole way, so no one was passing anyone except this one impatient truck-driver didn't feel like waiting so he passed us and blew snow everywhere, so bad that we couldn't see literally 2 inches in front of us for like 30 seconds and the other Elders were following behind and couldn't see either and almost hit us!!! It was probably one of the scariest moments of my life!!! And the road only had like 1-2 feet shoulders on the side of it and then a few minutes later, I kid you not, a house, larger than any house I have ever seen being transported on the road, appeared out of nowhere oncoming and nearly hit us; probably missed us by less than a foot and that's no joke!! I should invest in a dash cam. Then we drove past Rouleau, SK, the location of "Corner Gas", unexpectedly and later arrived in Moose Jaw safely and unharmed and had a good ZTM. Afterwards, since Elder Stoker was being transferred to Moose Jaw, I took him and the original Moose Jaw Elders to their apartment to drop off all of Elder Stoker's luggage. Then as we were proceeding down the slight decline to a 4-way stop, the car decided to not stop and went through the intersection and smashed into a big half-ton truck.... It was super stupid and I was super mad. I wasn't even driving unsafely, but apparently that had just been graded and polished so we slid through and crashed. No one was hurt and the guy was super friendly and not mad at all about it. It was a good opportunity to share the gospel with him, even though he wasn't interested and already had a Book of Mormon and had been invited by his friend in the past to learn more about the church. The cop came and since the road was so icy she even slid through the intersection, even with her winter tires. Everyone who drove by were telling me how mad they were at the city because it's always horrible and they never put sand down in time. But any-ways, we didn't get a ticket because the roads were super bad and the guy I hit told the officer it wasn't even my fault, even though it really is, and the tow truck guys didn't want to tow it because it was just the wheel-well that was preventing the car from being able to turn left fully so they bent it far enough and the cop said it was good enough so they left it at that and all went their own ways. But we drove off and it was rubbing still so the Zone Leaders lead us to a place where we could park it, so we left it there and went to lunch and then walked to McDonald's and a member family bought all the missionaries dessert and had a good visit with them, followed by us walking to the Zone Leaders apartment and to the church to fill out the accident report online and then getting picked up by the same member and us being taken to the Moose Jaw apartment for the night. We got there and they didn't have any extra blankets and at that point we were actually homeless so Elder Dillon literally had to use newspapers in place of a blanket that night.

Thursday we didn't really do much. Elder Dillon and I went to take the car to Zone Leaders home to park it in a more secure place and when we went there the man who owned the house we parked it in front of was mad that we parked in front of his house, so we shoveled his side-walk and driveway in a way to say sorry and in the process Elder Dillon accidentally hit and shattered one of the guys little solar-panel lights, so the guy was a little more mad but said not to worry about it, so that was kind of funny. We then called SGI (the car insurance company in SK) because they were closed by the time we could get around to it on Wednesday, so we called them and the soonest they could get us in was on Tuesday of the next week, so we parked the car at the Zone Leaders house and were with them the rest of the afternoon and they didn't have their car either because the transmission was all messed up, so we walked for like 5 KM to the church and it was snowing hard all day and the city never clears the snow and it was super cold. Elder Dillon's face almost froze off. After institute we went home and wehad blankets this time.

Friday we washed our clothes because that would have been the 3rd day in a row wearing them and then Elder Dillon and I embarked out into the city and tried to hand out copies of the Book of Mormon to people but only were able to share two because no one was outside because it was freezing. So after about 3 hours we made it to our destination, but on the way we were lead to this one house where this Ukrainian guy lives, who is working here on the Rigs to get his family over to Canada. We kept feeling prompted to ask him about his family because he was being super suspicious and said he was the only one there when I saw some mistress lady pop her head around the corner to see who was at the door, then she went back. Spirit was super strong and after we left we both felt that we had been prompted to stop by there and remind him of his family back home and to smarten up. Was pretty neat experience. After that we met the members we had originally planned to stop by and then we went over to the Williams' home (knows some family in Medicine Hat) for dinner with 6 other missionaries, which was good. After that we walked home and slept.

Saturday, after surviving getting hit by a dump truck in the brand new minivan, the new Elder's who were coming to Estevan and Weyburn arrived in Regina and picked up the Estevan car and we were able to finally escape from Moose Jaw with them. And we got to change our clothes, which we had been wearing for 4 days straight. Then we had lunch and Elder Dillon went back to Estevan with Elder McGregor and Elder Hornberger and I went to visit G and then trekked home a few miles in the swamp and slush that was now Weyburn.

Sunday Bro R came and picked us up for church and when we got there and one member was a little upset because we hadn't cleared the snow like we usually did, but he understood after we told him we hadn't been there all week because for a time we were homeless in Moose Jaw, but we had a good church meeting. Sister L felt bad because she had to cancel our meal appointment because her husband’s father died and he had to go back to Korea, so she brought us a ton of ribs and alfredo fettuccine from Costco and the Regnier's had brought us a bunch of muffins. Then we went over to the M's for a super good lunch and shared an object lesson with them and read the Book of Mormon with them for like an hour again. They took us home to store our food and then took us to the "Gospel Discussion" meeting and that was interesting, still pretty good. We were able to talk with a ton of great and friendly people again. Then we made the long trek home in even more slush and mud and swamp, with the mounds of frozen dog poop that have started to emerge now that it was melting. We got home and the water leaking from the light outlet (I call it the light faucet) was worsening but the spot where water was leaking onto Elder Hornberger's face right over the head of his bed had ceased to continue leaking! So that was good. We had dinner and weekly planned and let Elder Hornberger know about as much as I could tell him about the new area.

Today we got up and studied and then trekked out to the chiropractor one last time and talked with a guy a bit who turned out to be an autobody worker so I told him what happened and showed him a picture and said the damage done to the car is a round 3000-3500 so that's no good. We went to the post office and then now I am at the library e-mailing.


-Love Elder Shane Dola

Monday, March 3, 2014

March 3

Hey how are you doing!

But this was our week:

On Monday we had our P-day and were able to stop by a few former investigators. One let us in and is a super great guy with a great family, from the Philippines, and will have us over. We have had a few appointments with him that got cancelled because he is always super busy but that was still good, just got to keep trying until it works out with his schedule.

Tuesday we went to a special care home and talked to a few old people. ) Then we went to Francis and met the L's and the K's at their "Ziggy Mart" (convenience store/ restaurant) and picked up a pizza and went over to the L's home and were able to have lunch with J and teach him one last time. It was really good; he was super understanding and was sad because he didn't want to have to go home yet, but we will have to see how things go. The last lesson went great and he committed to continue reading and praying and his aunt showed him where the church is near where he lives, so we are going to send off his teaching record over there and have to leave the rest up to him and the Lord. We then came back into Weyburn and went and helped the old folks play their Bingo card game. It was super sad, this one lady was super upset after we were leaving and kept asking us when she could leave the Residence there and go home. She was super confused and sad but that's life; happens when you get old. But after that we went and gave blood, which was great. When the guy who stabbed me with the needle stabbed me, blood squirted up my arm, which was pretty gross. I said "You almost got me there" (almost got on my shirt (when I took my shirt off that night there was a small blood stain in line with where the splash of blood flowed)) and he was shocked and said "Sorry, I didn't even think that there was that much pressure there." But after that we came home and had dinner and then went and played basketball for our basketball night. I almost passed-out like 3 times because of the loss of blood, but that was okay it still went pretty good.

Wednesday we had District meeting, and then a branch correlation meeting with our branch mission leader, which was good. Then we went to the Welsh Kitchen for lunch and stopped by a few potential investigators and formers had dinner and went to the "Church of Christ Bible Study" which was better this week. Then we had to go get water from Pharmasave so we could drink again. And G called us telling us how well his new job has been going, which was great.

Thursday we had a lesson with a less active and had president Tieffenbach come with us, which was good. He is doing well. Then we went and stopped by the "Family Place" seeking for service opportunities, and then we stopped by the police station and had a good chat with the Chief of Police who is going to have a bunch of service opportunities for us in the future! We then had lunch and went to the library and tried all we could to find more info about all of the less-actives in our branch. It took a long time and we didn't have too much success, but got some things in order a bit. We got our transfer calls and I will be staying here and get a different missionary named Elder H, another guy from the Mother-ship of Utah! Then we stopped by and tried to contact this one lady who wants nothing to do with the church and so we were trying to let her know how she can get her records removed so that missionaries stop stopping by her place, but she yelled at us to go away through her intercom system, so we will just have to go back another day until she lets us talk to her, or maybe just drop off the sheet she needs with the info on how she can remove her records. Then we had dinner, stopped by the J's and Elder S said goodbye, then we went and had an appointment  but ended up just helping with folding their giant mountain of clothes with them for almost an hour then came home.

Friday we stopped by a few other people for Elder S to say goodbye, then we had lunch and drove to Midale and met with the Elders there to go on exchanges and it was like -45 then. It was super cold, so couldn't really do anything, but I went with Elder M and we decided to drive down this random road and saw this huge house as we passed by and then drove a bit more down the road and I felt prompted to stop by and knock on the door, or we just wanted to see the huge house, but anyway it was super good. We met this super nice lady who is catholic and basically let us in because she thought we were ridiculous for being out when it was super cold. She made us hot chocolate and kept bringing us more and more food, all the while we taught her about the church and taught the restoration and the BOM. She is super strongly catholic and was going to be a nun once but got married instead, but was super open to new things and said that at the time and during all of her searching and pondering that she knew the Catholic church to be true, however she is a strong believer of The Lord showing her new ways and new light so she accepted the Book of Mormon we left her and said she wanted to read and find more about it. She seemed very confounded and was very appreciative because she said she learnt a lot she didn't know before, even though she has a few Mormon friends that she really adores. After that we came into town and Elder McRitchie had to stand there in the blistering cold and fill up the car with gas. Then we came home and had dinner and then later we went to "Warm Welcome" the homeless shelter and taught the different volunteers there more about the church and they were all super receptive and interested, we shared some of the CES Devotional titled "The Blueprint of Christ's Church" and they all seemed interested. So yeah that was good. For the second time I taught people at midnight in another church. Was super good. Then we ran outside to our car and luckily it started so we drove home and went to bed in our freezing house.

Saturday we woke up in Estevan and it was -56 or something around that so we really didn't leave the house until noonish and had nothing else we could do so we went to the leisure centre, because that is where everyone goes on Saturday and almost every other day of the week, and walked around a bit and walked over to the Curling rink and nearly died because it was so cold walking that short distance. We eventually just sat in the library looking up information on the Church Website and other things. Then we had to make our way back to Weyburn but just went straight to McTaggart and had dinner there with the Regniers and the other missionaries and had a small birthday party for Elder S then came home. It was still super cold.

Sunday we had Fast Sunday, which was good. We had a good dinner with the M's and read the Book of Mormon with them for like an hour and a half and then we did some planning and then met with the S's and Elder S said his goodbyes, then we stopped by a former investigator and we are going to come back later this week and try and teach her family. We then went and visited with B and H and Elder S said his goodbyes. Then we came home and slept.

Today we said goodbye to the Abads and then drove back to Estevan and Elder D and I had an interview with the newspaper about the Elders being in Estevan and talked a bit about the ARC program that we are going to try to introduce to people here and that's it.

Love you, take care, and continue to have your back heal!


-Love Elder Shane Dola