February 17

This past week Monday was P-day we went bowling for free because a somewhat recent convert's parents own the bowling place in Weyburn. We then met with C (I met him for the first time) and we had a good discussion with him while he was on the run getting ready to go to a show, but he made us super good chicken unexpectedly and told us his wife, who lives in the Philippines, is pregnant and when he heard my name "Dola" he really liked it and said he wants to call his kid that... he's kind of crazy but he is a super great guy, just super busy. I am sure he will do great as long as he settles down and will find more time to meet with us!

Tuesday we drove into Regina and had a specialized training meeting, which was pretty good. After that we came home and had dinner and then had our Basketball night, not too many people came out this week, but it was still pretty good. We were able to give a Book of Mormon to one of the guys that comes a lot!

Wednesday I went up to Estevan with Elder Dillon for exchanges. We stopped by a few places and looked for some service opportunities and then we stopped by a school and contacted the Principal  who was super nice, but not interested. We then had dinner and went running at the local arena and were able to talk with this one guy, who apparently they saw there all the time, and he ended up being a return missionary from another church. We were able to share a book of Mormon with him. Lots of good potential there. We then came home and taped up the Black mold outbreak in their house...

Thursday we woke up and shoveled the entire block that our house is located on, which was good. We had a conversation with a thankful neighbor with 2 little kids. Then we showered and recently their shower was draining into the floor, but it was "Fixed", but not really. After I showered, it wouldn't drain and we ended up vacuuming out giant rotting hairballs and other sludge from the drain (which now works perfectly well.) We then spent the day going around town looking for other places we could serve or do things, like the police station, radio, newspaper, etc just trying to get our name out there. Later, we stopped by an investigator and had a good talk with him. We'll see how that goes (his wife isn't too fond of us) and then later that night we went to this other church where they run a program called "warm welcome" which is basically a homeless shelter. We go there basically as supervisors. We talked with them and played a card game for a while before they went to bed. Then we were able to have a good conversation with some of the other volunteer ladies that help out and were able to teach them the restoration and had a really good discussion with some really good questions and what not. So yeah that was an experience no other missionary has probably had; teaching a lesson at midnight to two women without having fellowship while in a homeless shelter.(but it is all good because it was all approved by President Thomas) But after we served our 5 hour shift from 8:00PM-1:00AM we went home and slept.

Friday, we got up and volunteered at this old folks home and forced all the old people, who had no idea what was going on, to shake/hit instruments while they listened to music. Then we helped out at the Salvation Army and made a few hampers, and then ended our exchange and went back to Weyburn. Elder Stoker and I went and snowblowed the church and shoveled the huge drifts out.

Saturday, we weekly planned and stopped by a few service opportunities and potentials and former investigators. We found a new lady who lives in McTaggart, then cleaned out the baptismal font at the church and had a lesson with J. We watched the Restoration in Korean and showed him the Baptismal font and invited him to be baptized and he said he would think about it. Later we had the branch adult valentines party, which was a great success. We had a total of 8 investigators come out, who the members and we invited, and a few less-active members as well. We had a good time eating pizza and playing cards and board games.

Sunday, we had a good sacrament meeting where I was called upon to speak last second... then we had gospel principles class with J again and he is loving it; G enjoyed it too. Then we had to do all of our dishes at the church because the water at our place is poison. Then we went out and had a visit with President Tiefenbach and his son, and a lunch appointment out in Yellowgrass. Then we came back and later went to a potluck that Elder Stoker and I were invited to. Then we went out to McTaggart and had dinner with the Regnier family and came back to Weyburn.

So it was a pretty good week. Very busy and very all over the place, to say the least.

But love you and take care!

-Love Elder Shane Dola

February 10

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.  

February 3

This is my past week:

Monday we had p-day.

Tuesday we stopped by and met a few of the people that we help and serve, including this pastor lady from the Salvation Army and she basically opened up and told us her whole life's story about all the horrible stuff she has gone through including her son committing suicide out of no where, and her other son attempting twice, and all else and what not, and how she knows the only thing that has kept her through it all was God. She expressed how it was still hard not knowing for sure where he is at though and we invited her and her husband to sit down with us sometime and she's considering it. After that we went to a restaurant named the Welsh Kitchen, owned by a less active member whose daughter recently left on a mission. Anyway she never has the missionaries pay so we eat whatever we want for free and we also were able to talk to some guy a bit about the gospel while we ate, and then we set up an appointment with the lady who owns the restaurant. After that we went to this old folk's home called Hill Top Manor and we helped the old people read their cards as they played a bingo game. It’s super sad to see that this literally the easiest game I have ever seen and these seniors in their conditions find it super hard so that's what we do is help them out with that. After that we had a lesson with a guy  (was supposed to be his whole family but they were sick) in his printing press shed in his back yard. We then had dinner and met with a recent convert but now less-active member and his wife and kids and got to meet them. They recently lost their infant child on Jan 1 and the baby was only 1 month 13 days old when it passed. So things have been super hard for them and they are pretty bitter towards God right now and the father isn't too overly fond of me because I am from AB and AB drivers and people are cocky. But I am sure that will change soon enough... After that we went to the Know Presbyterian Hall where we have our Basketball night and we had 12 people come and play basketball, which was great. It was weird, it was the first time I played basketball where it wasn't too serious and physical, everyone was super nice and sportsman like, not your typical experience in AB or in Church basketball. But besides that we also were able to talk to one of the guys that came out, who is Christian, and gave him a BOM and committed him to read it and he accepted. We’ll follow up on that the next time we see him! Over all it was a pretty good day though.

Wednesday, the Estevan Elder's drove in and we had our District meeting lunch and then we went to the Old Folk's place again, after meeting another Potential lady, and we helped out with their Hawaii party. We then went to the Library and made some pass-along card things to hand out to people and then we went out to McTaggart and tried contacting a referral and ended up tracting a bit and were able to place three copies of the Book of Mormon (one guy chased us down and gave it back, he ended up being a Catholic Priest and decided that he would have none of that) and met some people who already had a copy, but one guy seemed super great. He's Christian and accepted the invitation to read it and told us to come back later whenever his truck was there and we could teach him and his family. We then came back into town and had dinner and then went to "THE CHURCH OF CHRIST" and participated in their Bible study, which was super weird, but still pretty good. We were able to add our insights and opinions; everyone there was super nice.

Thursday we went out to Kisbee (about an hour east) and met with a member and his family. We taught the Plan of Salvation to the kids using an object lesson and those are the smartest kids I have ever met. Seriously one was 2 years old, and he was telling us the importance of keeping the commandments and praying to receive answers to what is true and what is not and the other who is 6 (she only goes to school for gym class and recess because "I am just ahead of everyone else") answered all the questions we had for her and can read the Book of Mormon without pausing at any words (better than lots of investigators) but that was good and after that we were so far out we decided to venture out to the White Bear Native Reserve and  stopped by some investigators and less-active members houses but no one was home. We escaped and stopped in Carlyle for lunch, then headed back to Weyburn and saw K & C and went to their house to "practice teaching" and we taught them the Plan of Salvation and had a really good discussion and K without us saying said. "In order for me to know Christ more and understand Him better I am going to have to study his word" so he committed himself to read the BOM. After that we had the appointment with the J  and we watched “Come Join with us” with them. Sister J loved it and expressed how she intends on becoming fully active before her daughter gets back from her mission so she has 18 months to do that! And Brother J liked the talk until Pres Uchtdorf was telling people to come back and Bro J said he has no intentions of ever coming back. "I have taken off my tag and am more comfortable that way, just happy living my life, still am a believer and always will be you just don't need church," but just wait, he will eventually put aside his pride.

Friday we weekly planned and helped the old folks again with their birthday party and then finished the cards. Then we had dinner and followed up on a referral for a former investigator from a member. We then stopped by the Youth center to see if there was anything we could do to help out and offer service and the guy ended up being a Pastor and told us straight out he didn't want anything to do with us and didn't want us around the place so we left. Pastors I have met so far here aren't quite as nice as the ones in Dryden.

Saturday we did a ton of former investigator and potential investigator contacting and stopped by G and gave him some soup because he has been dying from the Flu and also gave him a priesthood blessing. We then stopped by the Church to print something off and Bro Regnier was there doing some clerk stuff and he was just finishing and took us out to Subway. After that we went out to McTaggart again and I decided to try a new finding idea by seeing how many people would stop and help us out if I got stuck in a rut near the ditch when I tried to turn the car around at the end of a street. One guy came and tried to help us out and just decided he would jump in our car and drive forward and reverse until he eventually dug us deeper and we slid further into the ditch, then got out and went home, saying "You're just going to have to call a tow truck." And since I didn't want to call a tow truck and have the mission have to pay for that I said a prayer asking that we would be able to get out without having to get a tow truck. So we sat there and called the only member out there, brother Regnier, to see if he could help us and he said he would try to get some people together. Mid conversation a man drove up next to us in his car and said he was going to go get his truck and pull us out. Before he could get back however, another two young oil-rigger guys in a truck (the last two guys you would think would help out) came and offered to pull us out and did. In the mean time, the other guy with the truck showed up and was happy that we got help, then we saw brother Regnier and his family drive up in their car and they don't have a truck, but were going to try and push us out. It was seriously humbling to see the kindness of the people here, always trying to help out. Miracles of Prayer, I asked for help and the Lord sent 2 trucks and an entire family to help us out! After that we were able to contact the less active member who is super nice, but told us she has no interest in coming back.

Sunday we got up and we shoveled the snow at the church, and had a great fast and testimony meeting and ward council. The members here are super great! After that we went to the Morrisettes and they had dinner for us, which was fantastic. We spent the rest of the day with former investigators and gave out a few Book of Mormons to new people we had never met!

But I Love you and hope that you continue to get better!

-Love Elder Shane Dola

January 27

The roads in Sask are horrible. Road from Highway one to Weyburn was broken up and super narrow and cracked and bumpy and had "soft shoulder" warning everywhere. Sometimes the road would just drop off and would be gravel or sometimes just mud!

This week was super interesting:

Monday we had P-day and I got everything sorted out and ready for me to go kind of, and went to J and got a haircut, and then went to M for lunch. After, we helped him take a few loads of garbage to the dump, then we went and taught G one last time.

Wednesday was crazy. We taught Pastor T and that went all right. He was asking about temples and baptisms for the dead and we really stumped him on thinking about how important it is to take care for those ordinances, especially for those who never learned about Christ. He had nothing to say and said he would have to study that out and get back to us. After that we had a surprise phone call from the Zone Leaders telling me that we needed to leave to Winnipeg ASAP (the plan was originally that I would leave on Thursday morning) so we had to drop all of our plans for the day. We rushed home and packed, and called and stopped by as many people as I could to say goodbye, and then we drove to Kenora and picked up some of the Elders' luggage there (3 of them were being transferred and had not enough room in the one car to fit all of their stuff) and then drove to Winnipeg. We arrived right in the middle of rush hour, and that city is laid out in the most ridiculous way. There are one ways and 2 way streets and 6 way intersections and it is just a super crazy stupid layout, but we eventually made it to Polo Park and walked around (we literally had nothing else we could do) and had dinner and then went and stayed at the St.james East Elder's apartment that night.

The next day was transfer day so we went to St. James Chapel and said goodbyes to Elder Scott, as he went back to Dryden, and then I was with the St. James East Elder that whole day.

Then on Friday I had to drive one of the vehicles to Regina with Elder Kenney and Elder Natress. Once in Regina, I jumped in another car with Elder McRitchie and we headed back East and ended up in Weyburn, where we had no phones, and waited around until the other Elders came home.

But yeah, all I did was drive multiple cars across Canada those last few days for about 12 hours ((4 hours Dryden to Winnipeg in the Dryden Vehicle (Chevrolet Cruze)

6 hours Winnipeg to Regina in the Meadow Green Vehicle (Chevrolet Malibu)

1 hour 45 minutes Regina to Weyburn in the Estevan Vehicle (Chevrolet Cruze w/ Turbo))

Saturday was pretty good. We went and met a great non-member family and helped them with building some cabinets and had some great food. We then went and taught a couple.

Sunday, apparently there was a blizzard the night before, so no one really came to church except one guy,  an older Couple, and a lady and her daughter. Then two visitors came as well, which was great to have. So I was expecting 40 people but ended up having 5 and then us 4 Elders (Estevan Elders have church in Weyburn because they haven’t started up the branch there yet and have no building) We ran church that day and later had a lesson with G who is a recent convert of 2 years so we had a good lesson with him and then drove out to McTaggart and had a great dinner and gospel discussion with that family.

Today I cleaned the trailer that we live in, and man that place is nasty. The kitchen sink leaks and there's tons of black mold growing underneath the sink. and just tons of garbage everywhere, but it is now clean. Then we went shopping and now I am here writing an e-mail ...

But I love you too! Take care and have a great week!

-Love Elder Shane Dola

January 20

My week was pretty good; nothing too extraordinary happened, just transfer calls, going to Weyburn Sk so I will be closer to home than to the Mission Home come this Thursday!

But not too much happened this week I will never write such as I did last week that literally took forever... 

So this week we were teaching J and discussing the importance of sacrament, when out of nowhere she related to us a dream she had the night before where she was working with a shovel and white robed figures came down and "told her to do something." When she accepted what they said, she started to feel this sense of love and joy more than she had ever experienced before and she just felt that everything was going to be alright and it would all work out. When she looked down, her shovel she was working with turned into gold. She woke up from her dreaming laughing because of the pure joy she was experiencing. So she tells us this and has no idea what the dream means. We didn't tell her because we want her to figure it out for herself, but basically she just had a heavenly vision where Heavenly Messengers came down and told her to pay tithing and she knew it was the right thing to do. She'll figure it out eventually; I hope.... nothing I can really do.

We are also now teaching another Pastor. He recently moved into Dryden and he is very interested in learning, but not so much in changing. He’s a super great guy and I already like him a lot. The way he sits though is ridiculous, he almost slid off his computer chair like 4 times while we were talking with him. 

M is still being the most solid guy, President came down this week for sacrament meeting and said right after he met M:  "Nice work Elders! We need to get this guy baptized so he can be the next branch president!"

But it is great to hear that you and everyone else seems to be doing well you all take care, Love you

-Love Elder Shane Dola

The ice road and ice hut fishing community on Wabigoon Lake.

January 13

Hey, I am doing pretty good. It was +1 yesterday and 0 the day before but now it is -10 and will probably start to cool down again! How is the weather there?

Today I have a lot more time to write you than usual, which is nice for once. We always end up being busy doing something on P-days! 

So on Monday we had P-day and were done all of our shopping and cleaning and gassing up and whatnot and were at the Church when we got a call from our Elders Quorum President who said he needed all four of us Elders to come and help him chip off the ice from his chimney so that the smoke can get out of his house, so we all went over there and he handed Elder E a hatchet and sent him up the ladder up to the chimney.  President H climbed up the ladder and said that he didn't need anyone else to come up because he didn't want any more added weight on the roof. So Elder G, Elder S and I stood back and watched as Elder E hacked away at 4 feet of ice frozen to the top of the chimney with a hatchet as shards and shrapnel of ice went flying everywhere. All I did was hold the ladder against the house while they went up, and while they went down they ended up kicking the 4 feet of snow that was on the roof off and it went down the back of my coat and I couldn't do anything about it since I had to hold the ladder in the -30, so at that point my coat served no purpose. But after that we went in and Sister H surprised us by making us a nice dinner so that was great! After that we went to J's because she called us earlier in the day and told us she wanted to see us, (she rarely calls so we were pretty excited to see what she needed.) She told us how happy she was to have us always come over and see her and for how much she has been able to learn and the changes she has seen in her life.  After that we rushed back to the church and Elder S and I had a skype meeting with our Zone Leaders and all the other District Leaders in our Zone because our Zone Training Meeting was canceled because the roads for us to take would have been treacherous to take and had we gone another way it was have meant that we would be driving in the dark which is against mission rules. During this time the other Elders ran the FHE here at the church so after that we went home, after receiving tons of groceries from sister H again, and it was great because Elder S and I decided not buy any groceries that day and now we didn't have to buy any the next week either! After that we came home, planned for the next day, and went to bed.

Tuesday we had district meeting, which went really well, and we had a bunch of great practices. After that, we went to Subway and had lunch, and since all the Elders in my district had subway gift cards and since they all love me, they bought me my sub! After that, we went and stopped by a few referrals which didn't work out, then went to the Dryden Mission and helped  put away some of the Christmas stuff and got another service referral to a lady who needed her roof shoveled off, so we took his only "roof rake" and headed over and started to rake off the 4 feet of snow, and it was taking forever so we walked over to President MacDonald’s home and borrowed his "Roof rake" and went back to work. Then we went back to President and sister MacDonald's house because they had invited us for dinner prior. Then we ended up at the Church on Facebook looking for some potentials and other proselyting opportunities, and then came home after about 45 minutes, planned, and went to bed.

Wednesday, we went on exchanges and all went downtown (the other Elders were going to go to a bible study at another church but it was canceled while Elder G and I went and helped out at the food bank) but we all ended up at the food bank for a while and it was a good that we all were there because we had a lot to do since the food bank had been closed for almost 3 weeks for the holidays. After that Elder G and I went back to the ice roof top and shoveled all of the snow off and Elder G almost slid off and died like 4 times, but that took us quite a while. She was super appreciative and told us she had gone by the Dryden Mission and dropped off some money for us (which we just donated to the mission) and was super happy that we did it for her and we got to talking and she said we could come by and start to teach her next week, which is great! After that we came home and had a quick dinner and then went and had a great lesson with one of our less-active members, and had a great Scripture study with him. After that we went and had our Bible Study which went well. We then went out  and had a good discussion with another investigator couple on Church, Praying, and reading. We asked them what expectations they had for us coming over and they said "To invite Christ into their lives more," and they really committed to come to church this week. It was a great lesson. After that we came home, planned, and went to sleep.

Thursday was pretty busy too. We taught a new investigator, who we found in our former investigators list, and he basically told us his whole life story and how he has seen the Lord’s hand in his life many times. He is super great, and loved the Restoration and committed to read the Book of Mormon despite his bad eye-sight. After that we went and volunteered and had lunch at the DNFC and waited for the other Elders to get back from Vermillion Bay (they were there on a service project) and we went over to Sister Turner’s where we were taught a ton about Family History Work and how to do it more effectively, even though most of it went over my head. We then saw J and she surprised us with dinner so we had dinner and then had another discussion with her and she is starting to understand more of what the Holy Ghost does and who he is. It was really good and she finally finished reading the Book of Mormon! We then went and taught a great lady and her son (9 years old and a religious protégé; he asked his mom what we do and said that he would like to do that one day) and the lesson went great. She seems super solid and I see some pretty good potential with them! After that we came home, planned, and went to bed.

Friday was pretty interesting. We had a special appointment at the Mission where a guy from the Diabetes foundation was coming to pick up some donations and he had requested we be there to help, but when we got there and texted him to find out where he was, he was over 3 hours away in Red Lake at his other job and said, "Sorry but my work comes first." It was frustrating, but there is always stuff to do there so we helped for a bit and then dropped the Elders off at a meeting with a pastor who is really interested in the Mormon religion and just wants to learn more because he said that he believes a lot of what he has heard of it, so we will have to see how that works out! While the other Elder's did that, we went and tracted for a bit and we didn't have too much success but we handed out quite a few cards and it was funny because every time I would knock and start the door approach, I would receive a nice friendly lady, and every time someone would answer the door when Elder S would start the door approach, it would just be a rude giant man or a teenage kid who when opened the door said, "What do you guys want?! Going around wearing that Jesus Christ name! You here just to throw your bible at our face?!" to which we explained what we were doing, and he then responded by yelling ," You guys just need to leave," and slammed the door in our faces. But after that we came home, had lunch, and stopped by some more potentials who had told us to come back later, but none of them worked out. One lady told us to come back in the new-year, back in November, and then we saw her she was confused, then remembered, but said she is too busy now so to come back in the Spring now...  After that we did our weekly planning and stopped by some other potentials and came back, planned, and went to sleep.

Saturday was great. We had another Elder’s Quorum Breakfast at President MacDonald's.  It was a great time and great fellowshipping!  Then we went and had our studies, after President MacDonald showed us some of the videos he has that we might be able to share with our investigators. We then received 3 more service referrals and shoveled more snow off of roofs. We then went to a lady who was at the Mission and shoveled her roof a bit and then she said she would love for us to come over and teach her some time! After that we went and had a great lesson with D and he expressed that he really wanted to come to church tomorrow which was great!. We then came to the church and took the branch Directory and found as many members, and less-actives, and former investigators, and potentials, and looked for them on Facebook. It was pretty successful.  We have a few potential return appointments now! Crazy eh! After that we came home, planned, and went to bed after eating the gigantic Reese Cup.

1/2 pound Reese's Peanut Butter Cup!

Sunday we all got up and shoveled all the snow at the church, which wasn't that much, and it was so warm that I didn't even have to wear gloves. After Church we went and stopped by P, but he wasn't home so we went over and set up an appointment with R who we will "Maybe" meet later on in the week. We then had a lesson with a guy we met on the street who asked us to stop by sometime and so the fourth time we stopped by he answered in his underwear but let us into his lair and put on some pants. He told us he is possessed by demons all the time. He told us some crazy experiences he's had and I asked him what drugs he was on at the time and he said just Crystal meth and others but he doesn't do it anymore. He also told us he is Schizophrenic but doesn't do any heavy drugs anymore, just weed once in a while but it has been like 4 weeks. But yeah, I don't think we will go back there any time soon unless he contacts us. Mostly because he is completely fried from all of the drugs he has done! After that we went out and tracted Thiel street and the first house there was this lady who has apparently been stuck in her house for who knows how long, and even though she pulled with all her might, she could not open her door to her house because it was "Frozen Shut" in +1 degree weather, so she turned around and walked away, even though we could hear her clearly through the door. But we did find a few potentials we will have to follow up with. One was a lady who sounded super excited to see us but couldn't at the time because her entire household was on their deathbeds with the flu, but when they get better she would love to. This other guy we met put his daughter on hold so he could talk to us and sounds super excited to meet with us when he gets back from work next weekend. There was also this vicious dog which would bark at us then run away if we walked towards it so we had to be super careful. After that we came home and broke our fast, and saw M and taught the 10 commandments with hand signals, which he loved.  He told us how his friends discriminate against him and make fun of him a bit because they always see his truck at church or whatever, but he says he feels bad for them because they're "missing out." He has such a strong testimony and is such a great member who is not actually a member! After that we went and had a first lesson with a family referral we received. We taught her and her two teenage children the Restoration and watched the Restoration video and were so enthralled that the daughter burnt her banana bread. Then at the end, when we invited them to read and pray about our message and committed them to read the Book of Mormon, the boy accepted and asked for 2 so he could give one to his friend, and the daughter loves reading so she is going to read it too! It was a pretty good day; got 3 new investigators. After that we reported indicators and came home, planned, and went to sleep!

This week went kind of slow at some points but overall it was really good, definitely saw the Lord’s hand in our work all throughout the week! Fasting truly does bring blessings!

But it is great to hear that you and everyone else is doing well and is great to hear the missionary work you're doing! Keep it up! Love you and wish you and everyone else a great week!

-Love Elder Shane Dola

Our groceries :)

January 6

My week was good but today was a little hectic. We are not quite yet frozen to death but possibly soon! Basically they say it's too cold to come out when it is -40 but also use your own discretion. New Year’s Eve we had a normal day of missionary work and then went to President MacDonald's and he had a branch party there and had some fireworks. We had special permission so we didn't have to be back until 10:30 that night. It was fun. It is great to hear that everyone else had a great time at home.

It has been too cold lately for lots of traveling appointments across the mission here! Great to hear everyone else is well too, and they will always be in my prayers!

But things have been great! I don't have any time right now to write you much but I will get back to you next week!  Love you. Take care.

-Love Elder Shane Dola

We had to walk to the church on New Year’s Day because the sticker for the license plate hadn't come yet and it was about an hour walk in -30 degree weather. I don't know what the windchill was but it wasn't that bad! Needless to say we only didn't have our car for that 1 day and were super happy when it came in the mail the next day and we could drive!