Week 61 - Winter Preparations

Hello Everyone!

This week was great! We've been helping a lot of people get ready for the winter by helping them stack wood. Many people here have wood burning stoves for heat, so they need to load up the wood before the snow comes. So, we've been doing quite a bit of that this week, aside from the usual stuff.

We did, however, get to go to the temple on Saturday with all of our 3 recent converts! They all loved it! It was so cool to watch them get baptized for their parents, siblings, and other relatives. We took some cool pictures at the temple, but I'll get them to you next week. We also went to a sketchy Chinese buffet after the temple to celebrate and that was a mistake. We didn't feel well after. Despite that, when we got back to Amherst, all of our converts were like, "When do we get to go again?" haha. Good times.

Jerome is doing well. We played ball with him twice this week and taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He's been reading his Book of Mormon, and he's progressing well. He should be good to go for his baptismal date.

That's about all I have time for. Love you guys. Have a good week!

-- Elder Haslam

District Outing to Chingecto Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada
Sisters (l-r) Auvigne, Wood & Nowlon. Elders Haslam & Olsen

Cape Chignecto Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada

On the trail to Cape Chignecto, Nova Scotia, Canada

Trail to Cape Chignecto, Nova Scotia, Canada

Chill'n at Cape Chignecto Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada
with Elder Olsen & Haslam

Week 60 - Road Trippin'

Hi Everyone.

This week was pretty great! We had interviews with President Pratt on Wednesday after district meeting and that was great as always. After that, we went and played ball with our investigator Jerome!

Jerome is awesome! Although both of his parents are less active, they told us that they think Jerome should look into being baptized. So we've started teaching him, and he's on date for Nov. 18!! He says that he wants to get baptized too, so we're excited to keep teaching him. He's such a cool kid. 

This Saturday we're going to the temple on the other side of Nova Scotia with our recent converts to do baptisms for the dead! It's about a 2-hour drive, but we got permission to go, so I'm really looking forward to road-trippin' on Saturday!

That's about it for this week! Have a good one!!

-- 
Elder Haslam

Week 59 - Another Week in Amherst, NS

Hey Y'all!

This week was great! Tuesday we had zone conference! The area medical people, Elder and Sister Keyes, were visiting our mission, so they were there at the conference. Sister Keyes approached me and told me "Hi from Elder Roberts." I was confused at first, but apparently they're in the same district in Boston as Chase, so that was cool. She took a video of Elder Ipson and me saying hi so she could show it to Chase, so that was fun!

Friday we had a branch movie night! We got permission from our mission president to watch "Remember the Titans", so that was legit! The sisters and us both had investigators there, so it was a double success!

We also did a bunch of knocking and street contacting this past week. At one point, we were walking downtown, and we saw one of our investigators named Sam. Before we could get over to him to say hi, this sketchy van pulled up and he got in. After he got in the van, this RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) guy busted out of a store nearby and started talking into his radio as he was staring at the van driving away. It was pretty nuts. So, sadly, we think Sam might be rolling with the wrong crowd. We haven't been able to get a hold of him since then, so that's a bummer.

On a happier note, on Monday, we picked up a new investigator named Jerome. He's 16 and his parents are members, but he's not. We played basketball with him and then taught him about baptism and why it's so important. He says he wants to come to church and stuff, so we're pumped to work with him. He's bringing his buddies with him the next time we play ball too, so that should be fun.

Well, that's about it for this week. Love you guys!

-- Elder Haslam

Week 58 - Canadian Thanksgiving

Hey Everyone!

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, so happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you all! Because it's a national holiday, we have an all-day p-day today.  We drove from Amherst to Moncton in New Brunswick where a local member is going to feed us Thanksgiving dinner. We also went to a place called Hopewell Rocks this morning. I think it's one of the 7 natural wonders of the world because it has some of the highest tides in the world. Where we were standing this morning will be ten feet under water later today, so basically we were standing on the ocean floor.  It was pretty cool!

This week was great! We met this family, and we may start teaching their 10 yr old son!! I'm hoping that works out. 

Well, I don't have much time today. Here in Moncton we only have access to 3 computers and there are like a dozen missionaries who need to email. Since it's Thanksgiving here, I want to say how thankful I am for my mission and my family. 

Love you all!

Amen.

Week 57 - Having a Blast in Amherst

Hello from Amherst!

This has been a fun week! I love it here. It's a really small town, but I prefer that over a big city. We've been riding our bikes around town and talking to a lot of people. My new companion's name is Elder Olsen, and he's a stud! We're going to have a blast this transfer.

Conference was awesome! We watched most of it in the home of a recent convert here in Amherst named Howard. He was just baptized a month ago, so this was his first Conference experience, and it was an awesome one! He ordered pizza and bought ice cream for us to eat while we watched. It was a party!

There were SOOO many good talks from conference. My favorite was D. Todd Christofferson's talk. However, my favorite quote was from Elder Stanley Ellis. He was saying how "hard" is a constant in life, but the way we choose to react to the hard is a variable. We all choose how we react to our trials. God won't take our hard away, but he shows us how we can be happy though the hard. That's the whole purpose of the Gospel, and I love sharing it with people each and every day!

Hope everyone is doing well! Love you all! Have a good week!

--  Elder Haslam