Monday, March 30, 2015

Amba a-ou Hoksina Anungiab AND DIABETES

This week was pretty eventful.

Monday we had our P-day and visited with W afterwards and tried to meet some other members out here and went out to Montmartre and Woseley trying to track them down.

Tuesday there was a blizzard but we went out and planned and had lunch and met with some people and were around the community the rest of the day. We had dinner with W and met with C and B.

Wednesday was pretty crazy. We were at the Band-hall from about 8:30 - 4:00 helping out with set up and we BBQ the burgers and hot-dogs and just helped around and got to socialize and work with a lot of the people there. We finally met Vance Thompson, one of the Councillors and were able to set up a time to see him. We talked with one of the Ladies we were working with and she expressed that she wanted to be baptized into the Mormon Church so we have plans to be working with her in the future. It was a health fair/seminar/whatever-you-want-to-call-it and there was a booth set up where they test your blood sugar and blood pressure and it turns out that my blood sugar was 9.7 and blood-pressure 144/97 turns out the nurse says I might have diabetes! Turns out that my unhealthy eating habits I have acquired on my mission are taking it's toll on me... After that we had to take care of a few things.

Thursday we were in Regina for a Zone Conference all day but it was really good. It was my last Zone Conference and I gave my departing testimony it was pretty crazy! After the meeting President Thomas pulled me aside and told me that I will be extending my mission for 3 Months! We then went home and had our youth night and called it a night.

Friday we weekly planned and went to the school for a while and went for lunch with B, stopped by a bunch of people and met some more members and then we had dinner. We saw W and then had a good visit with K, a member who we have been trying to meet for quite a while!

Saturday we contacted a couple more people and knocked on a few doors before going to W's. Her son  passed away in March 3 years ago and in the Traditional ways you honor them every year during the month that one passes away so we went there and had a feast with her and all but three of her Children. But what was really neat was before that they had a ceremony for me where I received an "Indian Name" my name is "Amba a-ou Hoksina" which means "Coming of the Dawn Boy" which is a really nice name. It was really good experience. Afterwards we went out to Indian Head and tried contacting some more people on our list and then came home had a late dinner and taught some lessons online and then we went and set up the church for Sunday.

Sunday we had Church  and only 9 people were there but it was good. Afterwards we had lunch and did online work then we met with A and then had dinner with C and B and then we had lesson with the S family! 

All in all  Pretty good week!

-Love Elder Shane Dola


P.S. I actually don't actually have diabetes. Surprisingly my numbers were fine. Unfortunately, those were actually my companions numbers so he might have diabetes.
Also I am actually not extending my mission that was merely a little joke!  

Moccasins that were made for me

Me being me




-Elder Dola

Monday, March 23, 2015

March 23

I have been pretty good! Had a good week. The tournament was Regionals where there are 16 teams that play, everyone played 2 games and only 4 teams moved on. Next week is Provincials so it basically was Zones. That's pretty crazy that the Hat High girls won provincials though!

This week was pretty fun!

Monday was our P-day and then we went with the boys and girls basketball teams to Regina and watched the City Final at the UofR. The teams (LaBoldus and Balfour) were pretty evenly matched, it was a good overall game.

Tuesday we were pretty busy, we had some guy look at our trailer with the rotting floor and then we went out to Glenavon and gave sister H a Priesthood blessing, she was not feeling well but afterwards she was a lot better! Then we proceeded to shovel out snow from side of her house for like 2 hours so that it was no longer leaking into her basement as it melted! Then we came back onto CTK, had a basketball practice and had a good visit with W, then we went over and had a really good lesson with L and L and had a Family Home Evening with them. L had some really good insights from the story that I shared with him and noted that he was simply procrastinating his Baptism! 

Wednesday we spent a lot of time contacting homes and then we helped set up for the relief society social and set up some people here in the community to work with the Masons with using the church building for things so that was good. We then visited W and then had dinner and spent the rest of the night with T and T!

Thursday we saw R and had a really great experience over there with him.  He was baptized in his teens but didn't really want to be baptized and fell away from the church right after he was baptized and has never been active in the church. He is very strong in his traditional beliefs and is what some would call a traditional medicine man and what not but he recently has been not feeling well and has been having some problems with his blood pressure and usually when we visit him it is just a social visit type of thing we rarely teach him much but that day he asked us to give him a blessing before we left, which was really humbling to see him humble himself to receive a blessing. When we saw him the next day he told us he was feeling way better!

Friday we stopped by W and R was there and J showed up too so we shared a thought with them before we all headed off on our own separate ways. The rest of the day was spent traveling and playing basketball.

Saturday we played our game and got lunch and headed back and had a visit with the Simon family. Basketball was really good though. This being the first time ever that the girls team made it to Regionals (equivalent to Zones in Alberta) they were ranked 16th and we lost both games, but it was such a great experience for all of those involved. They started up halfway through the season and made it to Regionals which was a huge milestone for the school. The girls were all very excited and it was really neat to see that they all had fun even thought they got beat pretty bad by both teams that they played! Overall it was  great way to end off their season, they left with their heads held high!

Sunday we woke up and it snowed again, big surprise, we only had 12 people at church unfortunately. But it was still really good because we invited all of the girls from the basketball team to attend, they all agreed but only 2 of them showed up. But they had a really good experience and are coming next week and told the other girls on the team that they had a good experience and so now there are more who are saying that they are coming next week to church. It was really cool to see L who came to church, she  used to come all the time as a child but hadn't been in like 10 years and then M came, she had never been to church before so it was all completely new to her. She really like it and during Sunday school you could tell she was really overwhelmed by the spirit and when speaking with her later she said she was definitely coming back next Sunday and we didn't even have to invite her! So that was really great! After that we had lunch and went to the bandhall for a while there was a bingo fundraiser on for Marcus. Then we went and tried to find some less-active members who live in the towns around CTK but were out of luck there, came home and had dinner and saw K before calling it a night, overall a very good week!
Love you, you take care! :)



-Elder Dola

Monday, March 16, 2015

March 16

This week was good, pretty busy

Monday was P-day and we were with B for a part of it just deepfrying stuff and whatnot then we had practice and saw a couple people that evening.

Tuesday was a blur I don't remember who all we saw that day or what happened there besides the team playing in Montmartre and going back and forth with the score before winning 32-30 in the last seconds of the game and the referee's were definitely the worst I have ever seen, two high school girls who never reffed before but they pulled it off and won. 

Wednesday we had a Zone Training Meeting in Regina and made it back had dinner and saw some more people taught some lessons.

Thursday we pretty busy all day, had practice mixed with the boys team, we went and saw a bunch more people taught some more lessons and had our youth night

Friday we weekly planned and contacted a bunch of people all throughout the day.

Saturday we had breakfast with Rocky at Wilma's then we went to Montmartre and had our first game. The winner of that game qualified for Regionals the following weekend. We played Cupar again and that game was really intense. The score was back and forth the whole game and was tied at 49-49 at the end of the fourth quarter and then overtime score was 52-51. But we won and qualified for Regionals which was a huge milestone for the school they had never been to regionals in Basketball before! After that we played against Montmartre for 1st place in the division and that game was pretty bad, the girls were completely gassed from the game before and we ended up losing pretty bad but it was fine because Montmartre didn't play yet so were still fully energized, and the girls still had fun! After that we went and ate pizza as a team before we headed to Regina for Stake Conference and interviews with President Thomas

Sunday we went to Stake Conference and then had dinner at President and Sister Mason's after then came back to the Rez, went around and contacted homes the rest of the night, got stuck in the mud in our AWD vehicle but got out pretty quick. Spent the remainder of the night with B

Today is P-day and hopefully get to relax atleast until 6:00PM feeling sick since yesterday have a headcold

Yes we got transfer calls on Saturday, I will be staying here in CTK for my last transfer.

Yeah the weather has been pretty good here too! Everything melted and turned the roads in to huge mud swamps.

I was also wondering if you could do me a favor and send me the recipe for the pizza bread and your chicken pizza! Thanks!

But I love you mom! You have a great week!


-Elder Shane Dola

Monday, March 9, 2015

March 9

Hey! Sorry I didn't have to time to write this week! I was able to read all of your e-mails and it is good to hear that everyone is doing well! This last week was pretty good, had a lot of fun and was kind of all over the place with basketball and table tennis! But all is the well the Weather is good too! Looking forward to this week! It should be a good one! 


Love you all! 



-Elder Dola

Monday, March 2, 2015

March 2

To answer your questions: This week was pretty good. The weather hasn't been all too bad. The team won the other night against the team they lost to last time by one point. 39-24 was the score this time so it was a better game! We help coach the Boys team but mainly it is the girls team!

As far as BYU goes, I have no idea where I plan to live or with who! I honestly am surprised that I got in so quick! I think it would be fun and easier if I lived in a Hotel, that way I could focus on school and not have to worry about any house work because of room service and what not! But in all seriousness I went to the site and accepted the admission. Thanks again for all of the time and work you put in helping me apply! I couldn't have done it without your help! Thanks again! :) 

This week was good though
Monday we had P-day and basketball practice and saw Wilma.
Tuesday we had appointments and refereed the boys basketball game and then our team play in Cupar and won.
Wednesday we had district meeting and and had quite a few other appointments throughout the day, met some new people, played ping pong.
Thursday we had breakfast at W's went to Indian Head and gave E a blessing, then we just had appointments throughout the rest of the day, then basketball practice and our Youth Night.
Friday we helped in the Cafeteria and met a lot of people we hadn't met before just all over the reserve and then we spent some time with B that night.
Saturday we were in the Ping Pong tournament at the school in the morning and taught quite a few lessons throughout the remainder of the day.
Sunday was church. Attendance was pretty good, had 26 people come, 5 investigators. After that we were out and about around the reserve visiting people and what not.

Love you mom, have a great week! 


Love Elder Shane Dola