Yo ho from Edmonton!

Hey Everyone,

Another week in the mission life can you believe it? We are so busy i swear each day feels like a week and each week a month, in a good way of course! :D

Well this week the kingsway ward put on a fun fhe activity, they played quidditch, it was super cool and i wish i could have played! i would try to explain how they did it but it's too hard so just imagine multiple balls being used with trashcans and no they didn't use flying brooms...

For service this week me and sister hayes assesed the needs of our area and decided to pick up trash in the community! our helping out cleaning dishes weekly at the kara centre has come to an end for the summer break so we got some of those pick up trash things from the city and headed out on the streets... an hour later and two trash bags full we had only walked one block... so sad! I guess we are in the ghetto city of edmonton area though so what do you expect.... we definitely picked up a lot of tim hortons cups! lol hopefully our efforts made some difference :D

This week was a BUSY week! we had 21 lessons this week and 13 of those were with those investigating the church! We are definitely the busiest area in the zone right now and i'm just loving every minute of it and counting my blessings! We have two new investigators this week. Jessie mett the elders while she was going door to door trying to sign people up to support a child from a foreign country (i can't remember what the company is called?) and so we mett with her and she is super sweet! Then on sunday one of our members brought a friend to church and we are meeting him this week! We also had a crazy cool experience, a guy named Rom just walked into church on sunday! He is from china and just moved here from ottawa. He's 36 years old and is married with a daughter but knows members of the church and even though he's never been to a church before said he just felt in his heart to go. We taught him the 1st lesson right away and gave him a book of mormon. he says he likes that the church stands for family and hard work. he's amazing and i hope all the best for him! :D

Unfortunatley, we also ran into some hard times this week, truely the first time i've ever cried over an investigator.... we've been meeting with dale and sophie now almost every day for three weeks. We've been teaching them lessons and then just recently helping them with their english which is really fun and rewarding! They have been super stars and excelling so fast! However, friday night they went online and came accross some anti-mormon websites.... my heart broke. He told us about how people were saying that the book of mormon is taking the place of the bible and other nonsense. I was in shock and just sad that they could listen and trust someone's opinions from an article on the internet they've never mett yet me and sister hayes have been with them in real life bearing our testimonies to them and teaching them from our hearts for three weeks...but i guess that's where this world is at now? people are taking the words of individuals on the internet over then those they meet in real life... scary!

well we prayed and fasted for sophie and dale and i received a lot of comfort from the holy ghost. I feel peace knowing i did my best to represent Christ's gospel and know that their lives have been blessed because of it and of course which them every happiness!

Well on a bright side Renee and Peter and still preparing for baptism in the near future! i'm so excited for them and it's been a blessing to be a part of their journey.

I love you all and am so greatful for all your support with letters and emails. please stay strong in the faith and love those around you and i know you will be blessed!

with love,

Sister Wotherspoon

p.s. the postal system in edmonton right now is on and off striking so don't worry if mail doesn't come to you asap! :P

Hey from the mish

Hey Hey!

Well this week was fun! my first week with only one companion and it's awesome! it's so much easier to make decisions, clean up, plan and do things in general with one other person! i do miss sister wilcox i know it's always a hard thing for big changes and i hope she doesn't miss the mission too much! well we've been really busy this week we had 13 lessons with those investigating the church!

Andy is one of our investigators from montreal and he's so awesome. we taught him twice this week and went over the plan of salvation. i loved his excitement when he learned about where we come from why we are here and where we are going. i just have such a strong testimony of how we should not take this knowledge for granted! our member Joseph has to pick him up early for our lessons so we surprised them with some tim hortons breakfast sandwhiches and i could tell they enjoyed them.

Things are going great teaching Dale and Sophie!!! They are so awesome, we started teaching them english classes this week and it's been so fun! They know english really well BUT reading the book of mormon is a different story. Half of the time they ask a question i'm just thinking why do the prophets explain things in such a round about/ backwards way! It's definitely not as plain and simple as you think! We learned greetings and directions this week and played some fun games. I did a blindfolded obstacle course one day, i remember it from my days learning french, where one person is blindfolded and then the other one has to guide them through the obstacle. It helps them practice their speaking, vocabulary and their listening! it also made for some hilarious entertainment because sophie could not remember the difference between left and right and dale walked into a couple walls haha. We are now also teaching them about baptism in the lessons and they are just so open to the message! Dale has a baptism date set for july 2nd and i'm so excited for him.

All of our baptismal dates have been rescheduled this week. Even though they are more then prepared knowledge wise and have prayed to know it's true the dates have been changed because they either just don't feel ready and want a week more to prepare or want certain people to be there. I know that everything will work out though and i pray for strength that satan won't influence this decision that they are making because it brings so much happiness!

Well i'm hearing all about the canucks and it's awesome to see that grads went well!!! so much fun....

Well everything in edmonton is going great and i'm looking forward to finding new people and continue helping all those in need.

Thanks for all your support and love!!!

Sister Wotherspoon

Transfer Update

Hello everyone,

It's been six weeks since sister Hayes joined our companionship and you know what that means..... TRANSFER NEWS!!!! This morning was transfer calls and i was a nervous wreck just sick to my stomach! I wanted so bad not to be transfered to a new area because of course i want to be here for Peter and Renee's baptisms! We've also seen so many miracles in the area i really feel like i have more work to do here :D

Well the news is in.... me and sister hayes are staying kingsway ysa ward together for another six weeks! I'm so happy, overjoyed, just ridiculously excited to say the least! I love kingsway and i can't wait to be here for another six weeks of awesomeness. Sister Wilcox will be leaving us on wednesday and she's been busy packing. She's a little upset of course but i know this is perfect timing for her to move on with her life and really look back with righteous pride at all the wonderful things she has accomplished and the amazing person she has become in the last eighteen months!

This week has been BUSY!!! So much has happened! This week we started meeting with our new investigators Dales and his girlfriend Sophie. They are both from china and are amazing! We've mett with them three times now, they've come to two ward bbq activities and one baptism..... and yes all in this last week! They are really jumping in with both feet! Our lessons together have been so filled with the spirit and it's fun to have our member Ryan there to translate into manderin when needed. Sophie struggles with english and Dale struggles with random vocabulary in the Book of Mormon like we all do so me and sister Hayes have requested teaching materials and are starting an english class this week :D Any ideas for teaching?

We are having just beautiful weather here in edmonton right now, sunny and warm! Me and the companions have been jogging still every morning and we are now officially up to running 5km! Our goal for this upcoming transfer is to run 10km by the end.... it's possible right? i've noticed that although you would think that missions are all about memorizing the scriptures that it's very important to take care of yourself. i know on days that i've excersized that i feel so much better and am able to be my best missionary self possible!

District Meeting was fun this week, we had a surprise visit from our Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Campbell! They had some great words of advice to us when it came to the concerns we had in the area. I'm so greatful for our mission leadership they are so wonderful! One of the concerns we had in our are was a women that has been given two months to live and has requested to be baptized. unfortunately she is not able to be fully immersed under water so what do you do? Unfortunately there is no way around that. I'm greatful for the knowledge that i have of the plan of salvation and to know that our weaknesses or things that are not fair in this life will be made up through the atonement. Life doesn't end after this life people! haha

Our weekend was fun, we were able to take two of our investigators to baptisms. Peter went and so did Dale and Sophie as i mentioned. They loved it! and the spirit was very strong. it's so important for an investigator to see a baptism before they are baptized! I also was asked to share my testimony on joseph smith while the young girl was getting changed and i was nervous at first but i love having the opportunity to share something that has changed my life!

Saturday we were able to help the ward out with a service project. we mett at kinsmen park down town edmonton along the river and cleaned it up by collecting garbage. we then of course chatted while eating Brother Freemans yummy bbq. I wish it was summer all year round!!! I love bbq....Sunday was great too because i was asked to speak! The topic of my talk was Friendship and it's role in the Gospel. I thought a lot about this topic and got a little emotional. Friendship is always something i've struggled with in my life, it's hard to make good friends but i my topic down to three points - first that we need to know who we are and love ourselves before we are able to be good friends, second that in our baptismal covenant we actually promise to be friends and develop friendships in this life through service and third that our heavenly father and jesus christ are our BEST friends. They are perfectly patient and loving and we should feel comfortable in building relationships with them. I then shared an experience about how i mett one of my best friends of all time, Christina Nelson, and how i was so nervous but wanted friends so bad at byu that i litterally sat next to her in physics class and asked "do you like to party" she said yes and the rest is history... hahaha

well i'm working hard and loving every minute of it. i love serving the lord and being apart of people's lives! Remember that most people only need an invitation, the gospel of jesus christ really does "sell it's self ! " :P

Love you all!!

Sister Wotherspoon