The Last Post

This week was pretty good, saw a lot of people and had some good experiences. Did some drywalling, sanding and painting this week with the R's and then out of nowhere we had a really deep conversation with A and B about their kids and the need for them to be baptized. Nick really wants me to baptize him so Sunday the 3rd, the last day as a missionary, I will be blessed to baptize him before we head home! Lots of other crazy stuff has been happening this week too, had 36 people at church which is always great to see! But see you all next week....except you Kurt...

April 20

April 20, 2015

This week was a very blessed week, we were able to receive 8 new investigators and had many other successes.

  

Monday we had P-day and visited with some people. 

Tuesday we made invites to our potluck dinner went around handing those out for a while then we saw R. Visited with W and then we were able to start teaching a new family, T who we contacted coincidentally last week, who is a member, has three kids who she wants to be baptized. So we got to meet with them that day and had a really good discussion with them and invited two of them to be baptized and they accepted. Following that we watched some conference talks with M and had a good discussion with her and her trying to quit smoking. 

Wednesday we were out and about again handing out invited to potluck and then we saw W and then we were able to start teaching another part member family and committed all of the kids to be baptized and they accepted. It was a really great experience to see J, their father who is a member but has never really attended church, ask some really great questions.

Thursday we had district meeting over Skype as per usual then we went over to L's and helped him rake up some leaves in his yard and then we had a good discussion with him and had dinner with him. Then we visited with W and then we saw J and he wasn't doing so well since he is going through Chemotherapy again but we prayed with him and then rushed back to L's and helped his step-son load a bunch of garbage into his truck then we rushed back to the church for our youth-night which was great, we played capture the flag and all had a good time.

Friday we had breakfast at W's and then we went to the school and helped out in the Cafeteria which is great because we always get spend time with the workers there who are all less-active members. We then had lunch, weekly planned and then visited with W and her family before they headed off to Regina, Then we went over and visited the R's and played some lacrosse with kids and they had some friends there too and we then went inside and their friends wanted to come and listen to our message and we were able to teach them and they all asked if they could be baptized it was great! Then we had dinner and stopped by KC and saw O and had a really good conversation with him. Then we stopped by some other investigators and members but they weren't home.

Saturday we went to the band hall to hang up some posters and were invited to come to the feast that was to happen in an hour so we went back and got to experience and spend time with the community as guests at one of their feasts they put on in remembrance of some of their relatives who recently passed away. After that we visited with J who is a less active and her boyfriend who is an investigator. While we were over there her sister M came who is also less active and we got to teach them and some of their kids. We then were able to visit with KC and while we were there his nephew who lives down the road he saw us drive up and came over and wanted to listen to our message so we got to teach him and committed him to be baptized and he accepted and wanted to start reading the Book of Mormon too! 

Sunday was good we had a great sacrament meeting.Unfortunately only had 24 people out but it was great to have L and 6 other less-active members out including both J and her sister who hasn't been to church since T and T got baptized. Had a good potluck dinner afterwards and then we were surprised by a visit from F and J (taught him in Regina and he got baptized) who were passing through CTK to go up to Balcarres so we had a good visit with them for a bit and prayed and shared a quick message with them! Then we saw W and a couple others before having dinner and then we went to Orson's sweat lodge and it was different than the others I have been to. C who is a strong member of the church, beside him never coming to church, was running the ceremony. It was different because there was no pipe and he basically just prayed and taught and talked about Jesus Christ and the atonement and he talked about the church as well! Then we were given the opportunity to teach in the sweat lodge and bear our testimonies which is a great honor to have. Then after that when we were leaving O gave me an eagle feather to thank me for the work we have done in the community. Receiving an Eagle feather is considered a great honor among the First Nations people as they view the eagles as very sacred. Then K wanted to give me his hand drum before I left too. Great to see the people and the respect that keeps growing and them continually growing closer to coming back to the church!

-Elder Shane Dola

April 13

My week was pretty good! 

This week:

Monday we had our p-day and saw W and then went over to B and C's place

Tuesday we had district meeting and then we had lunch then saw H and E then we saw W and then R and then M then we went to the S's

Wednesday we spent a lot of time organizing a volleyball night here in CTK where we would have some youth from Regina come out and we would play volleyball and introduce them to some of the youth that would be at youth conference! Then this lady I met in Weyburn over a year ago who has been a missionary for her religion for since 1982, shows up at the church. This lady has been stalking me ever since I met her! Every area I go to she somehow finds out where I am and gets a hold of my number even though I have never given it to her! Anyways so she shows up with her new partner and we gave her a tour of the church, and they saw a picture of the temple and asked some questions about it so we were able to teach them about temples and what not. had a good conversation with her then she went on her way. Then we went over to R's to speak with him but he wasn't there but we were talking with his grandson who we know and we ended up teaching him, and he was really liking it and taking it in, the best part was when R came in he pretended like he wasn't listening but was definitely in the other room listening the whole time. After that we went to W's and she bought us steaks so we went over there and BBQ them and then went over to the S's shared a message with them and helped them with some things around their house.

Thursday we had a pretty cool experience, the guys who ripped up the floor in our trailer were back to pick up all of their equipment and one guy  who is from Pakistan asked us if he could ask us some questions about Christianity because he didn't know anything about it but he told us how impressed he was coming out to our place and seeing what we did and most importantly he explained how he just really liked the spirit that he felt when he was around us and when he was in our trailer. So we taught him and the other guy that was working with him right there on the spot. He expressed how he wanted to learn more about it afterwards and expressed his desire to come to church, so we told him that since he was from Regina he could meet with Missionaries there and even go to church there too. He then said that he would rather come here because it really wasn't too far (only about an hour) and liked how it felt more personable here. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and some other resources and he was set to go. Then we went to the school and got some info for when we would be using the gym on Friday. Then we had to get gas in Montmartre and some snacks for youth night, then we went over to L and L's and had a good visit with them and shared a message before they headed off. Then we stopped by some other people and saw W,  had dinner and got ready for youth night. Had a ton of kids come out and they watched Heaven is for Real on the big screen that we had had set up for General Conference. Everything was going really well until they left and we turned the lights on and saw that 5 different kids had spilled their pop all over the floor... so we cleaned that up.

Friday we weekly planned and took care of some other things and went out and invited tons of people to Church specifically because their were some more speakers from Regina coming out to talk more about the youth conference. We went and knocked on some doors and two ladies at different houses expressed that they wanted to be baptized and get all of their kids baptized too, so that was pretty cool we have times set up to go visit them this week. Then we met T who is very distinguished Elder out here on CTK had a good visit with him before he headed off to Regina. We went home and had dinner and went to the school and opened it up expecting 14 kids from the Rez to come out but only two of them did and then a handful of kids form Regina so it worked out but wasn't at all what we were hoping for or expecting

Saturday we had quite the adventure coming into Regina with Elder Ruth and Elder Kenney. We went to the Regina Pow wow and spent the day with the K family. It was a really good time and it was funny because nearly everyone from CTK was there too. 

Sunday we had church and only had 17 people out unfortunately but had some youth speakers and youth leaders from Regina speaking more about youth conference which was kind of strange seeing as no one who would actually be attending youth conference showed up..that's always disheartening when so many people commit to coming to the volleyball night and then to church and then nothing actually becomes of it. But on the bright side V came to church for the first time this year and we were able to have a really good discussion with him and brother Waldie during our Priesthood class, was great to have him out again. After church had lunch and visited W, went home and baked a cake for N's birthday and went over and surprised her with the cake spent the rest of the evening there before heading home.

Pow Wow Grand Entry

April 6

This week we spent all week inviting people to General Conference and tried getting the word out for that!:

Monday we had our P-day and spent most of it with B, got stuck in the mud, had some of our appointments cancel on us, but we saw W and then we drove to Indian head and had our appointment there cancel on us to so we came home.

Tuesday we stopped by people most of the day and saw W and weren't able to do all too much the remainder of the day, because we went over our Kilometer allotment.

Wednesday we were busy in the morning and then we saw E in the afternoon and shared a message with him and his sisters.

Thursday we helped out M with her fundraiser that she was doing at work and then we went over to the daycare and had a free Turkey Dinner at the Day care then we went and tried contacting some more people, had dinner and then our other appointments got cancelled. Then we had Youth Night where only three kids showed up. Then C came with his projector and we went and had to go and get a VCR from the school and we set up the satellite and everything for conference.

Friday we weekly planned and set some other things up before going over to W's for Easter Dinner with her family, that was fun and a little crazy at the same time. Then we went around to almost every house on the reserve and gave out invitations for General Conference for the rest of the night and ended up having a super spiritual, super great lesson with H!

Saturday we had Conference all set up and absolutely no on came at all all day except C came with like 10 minutes left in the Priesthood session. We also were involved with the Grad Fundraiser volleyball tournament at the school all day and played 13 sets and I'll tell you, I haven't played Volleyball for over 3 years and my entire body was aching after that day.

Sunday still no one came to the morning session, and we then went to M's place for lunch they had a BBQ then we went back to conference and no one came except M came for the last hour of the afternoon session.. After that we went out and saw W and then stopped by some others who ended up not being home, so we then went to the S's and shared a message with them on Easter and had a good visit! Then we got our Kilometer allotment for this month and were pretty disappointed because we only received a base of about 1300 instead of 1800 and it is hard enough already trying to get around to people on CTK when it has an area of over the size of the city of Regina where there are about 200 household spread out everywhere....

-Elder Shane Dola

Got a little stuck on this road that turns into a field.

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

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

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