Week 4 - Cornerbrook

Hi everyone!

Not very much happened this week. We went contacting a ton this week and we didn't get any potential investigators at all. That's been a little frustrating but I'm sure it will get better. It is nice to talk to all the people here because they're so unique. I've been staying in the Cornerbrook area for the past few days because my companions had to go to Nova Scotia for a meeting. It is so beautiful here. I'm really bummed because I forgot to bring my camera so I couldn't take or upload any pictures. I'll maybe upload some pics from google.

The whole town is on a bunch of hills surrounding a big bay. There are a ton of trees here and they're all starting to change color and it looks so awesome. There's this big paper factory here and there's a massive pipe that shoots out steam. Everyone around here calls it the cloud maker. It makes the town really humid and wet but it's kind of cool to watch. I love it here. I'd totally move here if I could.

But on a spiritual note, I'd like to share a scripture with you all. It's Matthew 10:39. I invite you all to look it up and see how you can apply it to your life. I know that it has made my life as a missionary much easier and I believe that it can help us all. I want to let you know that this gospel is awesome. It brings me a lot of happiness and I can't wait to find someone out here that I can teach and share that happiness with.

Thank you all for your prayers! You are all in mine.

Love you all, be safe, and be happy!

Elder Haslam

Week 3 - Newfoundland

Good morning everyone!! I've arrived in Canada!

We left SLC about 11:00 am on Tuesday September 13, 2016 and I got in to Nova Scotia at about 2:00 am local time, and we didn't get to bed until around 3am. Luckily, President Pratt let us sleep-in for like an hour. That morning he took us on a walk around a lake by the mission home, and that was awesome. This place is so beautiful!

Anyway, I'm now in my first area, Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland. I flew  from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland - solo! That was really weird because I've had a companion or another missionary near me for the past 3 weeks. So it felt strange to be alone.

I was picked up at the airport by my companions, Elder Larson and Elder Hovey. I love them so much. They are probably some of the funniest people I've ever met. They're both zone leaders so they made me the zone secretary, even though that isn't a real thing. My responsibility as zone secretary is taking naps while they deal with all of their zone leadership business. It's a pretty sweet gig.

My area is very green and it rains a lot. Everyone here is really kind and almost everyone smokes. Also, almost everyone here is on some type of welfare program. The branch here is tiny, and we have about 3 or 4 active members in our branch. One of those members is Cathy Borden. She is so funny and she is really faithful, but we are pretty much her parents haha. I'll talk more about Cathy in a later email. I have some funny stories about her.

This Sunday, we had about 16 people show up to church!! That, apparently, is an amazing turnout here. Church here is interesting to say the least, as the actual church building is an apartment. We Skype into another branch about 3 hours away for our sacrament meeting. Everyone that comes is really old and they're all kind of crazy. But I love them all, they're so awesome. They're really fun to talk to.

A lot of people here have a heavy "Newfey" accent. They basically sound like they're from Louisiana but they talk a gazillion-kilometers (haha) an hour. Sometimes I wish that they had subtitles so I could actually understand them. Also, since everyone here is so poor, and there are so few members, we likely will never have a dinner appointment in this area. My cooking skills will be tested 😀 ! This past week I've mostly survived off Nutrigrain bars and vegetables. I'll get more food once we've shopped.

 We only have a couple of investigators, so aside from teaching them, we will be doing a ton of finding this week. I'll let you know how all of that goes.

I love you all so much! Talk more next week!

Elder Haslam

Week 2 - MTC

Hello Everyone,

Wow I can't believe it's been 2-weeks already! This week has gone by so fast that I hardly remember it. So, I'm sorry if this is brief. 

This Sunday we heard from Elder Christofferson. He gave an awesome talk about how we know God loves us, but does He trust us! He went on to say that God's trust is much more desirable than his love. I hope you all strive to earn God's trust by doing the things that He would have you do.

I got my travel plans now! I leave for Canada this Tuesday morning, and my flight leaves at 11 a.m. I fly to NYC and I have a layover there for 4 and a half hours. That's kind of a bummer. But then I go from there to Halifax. I should arrive in Canada at 12:15 a.m. local time, so that'll be rough hahaha. 

I'm so excited to go and get started! I'm getting tired of being in a classroom all day. But I've become expert at some dumb things. I can throw a push-pin into a bulletin board from 6 feet away. Also, someone's mom sent them puffed cheese balls, so we've been throwing them into each others mouths and doing trick shots and stuff. Also, one day when we were bored, I convinced the Sisters in our district that if they stared at their hands and said cantaloupe over and over, that there was a riddle for them to discover. So after 20-min of them shouting cantaloupe at their hands, we finally told them that it wasn't a riddle at all. As you can tell, we're really productive sometimes! However, we actually do focus and study most of the time though, and I'm learning a lot. I'm getting pretty confident with my teaching skills now. 

Lanny (Elder Landon Malo) got here yesterday and I've been searching high and low for him but I haven't seen him yet. I'll find him eventually though!

Anyway, I'm running out of time. I just want to let you all know that I know this church is true and I can't wait to bring it to others and help them feel the joy and happiness it brings me. 

Thanks for all the support. 

Go Utes!

Love and miss you all. 

Elder Haslam

Week 1 - MTC

MTC Email - Week 1 - Elder Tyler Haslam

Howdy y'all. I finally have my first P day. I had to wait 8 days! That was kind of hard. I'm not sure exactly where to start. The first couple of days were super tough. I had that one experience in the MTC that everyone talks about, when the first night you're laying in bed and you're just like, "What the heck am I doing". But I prayed over and over and I can say that I'm actually having a ton of fun now. Each day just gets better.

My companion is Elder Hamblin. He's a really cool guy. We get along really well. We've started teaching our TRC investigators this week and I think we teach together effectively. I'm starting to get the hang of teaching. I can teach the first lesson with ease now. 

My district is the absolute best. We're all like family. A bunch of elders in my district have gained a bunch of weight since they've gotten here. One elder has gained 10 lbs since coming to the MTC. I'd like to officially announce that I'm the only elder in my district to not gain any weight haha!! I eat like 4,000 pieces of broccoli every meal so..... We're joking around all day and laughing almost all day. 

I'm learning so much about the Lord and the gospel. I get to play basketball every morning and it is wonderful. Sunday night we watched an amazing video called Character of Christ by Elder Bednar. It was amazing. They make all of the missionaries watch it. It talked about how in order to be like Christ, we need to turn ourselves outward when we desire to turn ourselves inward. We need to be serviceable when we personally need service the most. That's something to strive for!!

The MTC is wonderful and all, but I already want to go to Canada. I'm definitely counting down the days until I get there. Thank you all for the emails and the support. It means more than you know. I miss you all so much and you are all in my prayers. If you want to know anything more, email or write me please. I'd enjoy that. 

Love you guys very much,

Elder Haslam (12)