Week 18 - Happy New Year 2017!

Hi everyone!!!

Happy 2017 to everyone!!

This week was pretty normal! Wednesday, we went to Houlton, Maine, for District meeting!!! It was very refreshing to go back to the States for a little bit. All the speed limits are ridiculously slow in Canada, so when we crossed the border we got to speed up like 30 mph, and it felt like we were going SO FAST!!! I also bought some Star Wars bedding while I was in Maine. It may have been the best purchase I've ever made.

On New Years eve, we made Cafe Rio pork, and Elder Breinholt and I got up at 12 to watch the fireworks. So that was pretty great!!!

Other than that, it was pretty much work as usual. We did a lot of finding this week, so hopefully we'll find someone to teach eventually. 

Thank you all for your love and support! It means the world to me.

Elder Haslam

Week 17 - Christmas in Canada

​​This week was great!!! I don't have too much time to email today because we're gonna go play hockey later!!!!

We performed in the choir for the Christmas program. I didn't really like that, but the choir would be too small if the missionaries weren't in it haha. So, I endured that well!!!

Also, on Christmas we went to a member's house and watched Elf (with permission) and ate dinner!! We did a white elephant exchange at the end, and I brought a Justin Bieber poster. One of the elders in my apartment actually ended up with the poster in the end, so we'll have to find a way we can use that haha.

Well, I hope you all had an awesome Christmas! It truly is a wonderful time to honor and remember the Savior. Let's all just try and keep that attitude throughout the year, and we'll be golden.

Have a good week!

Elder Haslam

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Week 16 - Zone Conference

Hi everyone! This has been an awesome week!

I'm going to start off by saying that it has gotten really cold. On Wednesday, it got to -38 degrees (Celsius) with the wind chill. But my puffy coat kept me warm!!

Tuesday we had our Christmas zone conference! I got to see Elder Ipson again because our zones combined for the conference. The conference was sooo fun! We played a lot of Christmas games and had a talent show. It was also a wonderful reminder that we truly celebrate Christmas to remember the wonderful and glorious gift of Jesus Christ's Atonement.

The past few days we've gone caroling a lot! We went through a bunch of neighborhoods and old folks' homes. It's awesome to see how happy it makes people. We were handing out candy canes with mormon.org cards as well so hopefully that pays off.

Friday we went and volunteered at a soup kitchen and helped feed some of the homeless people in Fredericton. We get to go there almost every week, and it's super rewarding! 

On Sunday we had freezing rain, so they had to cancel church. We got permission from the bishop to have our own mini sacrament meeting with the 7 missionaries in Fredericton. So we made the dangerous trek up to the church and had our own testimony meeting with just missionaries. It was a cool experience. 

This week during personal studies I read a talk by Elder Wirthlin titled "The Great Commandment" There was an awesome quote in there that I'd like to share with you all. It says:

 "Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will. We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming." 

No matter what our circumstances are, we must always remember our divine heritage as sons and daughters of God and our potential to become just like him. We are able to do this when we access the power of the Atonement and God's grace everyday in our lives. I hope we all take advantage and remember, especially during this time of year, of what an amazing gift the Savior gave us when he atoned for our personal sins. I hope we all can use this remembrance to become better people in all aspects of our lives. 

Love you all! Hope you have a Merry Christmas!!!!

Week 15 - Fredericton, New Brunswick

Hello! 

So I'm in my new area now! I'm in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I won't have a ton of time to email though because there are 7 missionaries and only 3 computers. 

So, on Wednesday I flew from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, and then on Thursday we drove from Halifax to Fredericton. I'm super excited to work here. Apparently Fredericton is the 3rd largest city in the mission. We have opportunities to street contact instead of just knocking, so that is awesome! Our apartment here is super nice too, so that's a plus. 

It was weird attending church in an actual church building yesterday! I had gotten so used to meeting in the apartment back in Newfoundland. I almost forgot how real church works! 

On Thursday, when we were driving to Fredericton, I got to stop by Amherst to drop off Elder Ipson's new companion! We got to see each other again, so that was sweet!

Anyways, I'm stoked to get to work here in Freddy-town! Hope you all have a good and safe week. 

Happy Holidays!!!! 

Love you guys!

Elder Haslam

Week 14 - My First Transfer

Hi everyone!

It's transfer week and we just got a text saying that I'm leaving Newfoundland, but I don't know where until later tonight...So I'll let you guys know exactly where I am next week. I fly out from Newfoundland tomorrow. 

Last P-day, after emailing, we went with all of the St. John's Missionaries and we went laser tagging. It was awesome. The place we went to was huge and it had such a cool setup. Then we went on a little hike and we got to see an awesome view of the city. St. John's is a pretty cool place! The whole city kind of smells like weed though. 

On Thursday, we went to Glovertown to do some service with one of our members up there. We stacked wood for about 2-hours for a non-member, and it was super fun! Then we went and delivered cookies and cupcakes to all of the neighbors! Yeee. #LIGHTtheWORLD

Then, on Saturday we were in 2 parades!! We handed out over 400 Light the World pass along cards! We decorated our van with lights and stuff. It was awesome! It was like -6 degrees Celsius during the night and I gave Elder Hovey my gloves, so that was kinda crappy haha. 

Well, I'm running out of time and I need to go pack. Hope you all have a good week!!!!

Love Elder Haslam

Week 13 - Thanksgiving

Hi everyone!

This week was a pretty average one! We did a ton of knocking trying to introduce people to the Church's Christmas Initiative. People seem to like it!! Also, one of our promising investigators pretty much dropped us. We're not really sure why but she just told us that she didn't want to meet anymore. That was a really big bummer, but we're hoping to meet with her and resolve her concerns this week. 

On Wednesday, some of the senior couples in our district made us all a big American Thanksgiving dinner after district meeting because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in November here in Canada. It was refreshing to have a American Thanksgiving because Newfoundland Thanksgivings are really weird and they don't have rolls and mashed potatoes and stuff.  

Then, on Thursday, we had exchanges and we all went to a wing place for lunch and I got to watch about an hour of SportsCenter and it was amazing haha!!!!!:) We also asked this guy who owns a huge electronic billboard on one of the main roads if he would put up a graphic for the Initiative and he said he would do it for free! We all got super pumped when he told us he would. In a few days he should have our graphic up on the billboard!

On Friday we went to a Bible study with a bunch of Pentecostal people and they talked about how their church plays street hockey every other Saturday. So we plan on going to their church this week to play some hockey with them. When we asked them if we could come, they didn't really seem all that excited but we're going anyways because it sounds fun and it'll help us introduce the Initiative to them. 

Yesterday in Church we Skyped into the Corner Brook branch and they were having their primary program. Primary programs over Skype are amazing!! Especially when there are like 4 primary children and the microphone makes them all sound like Darth Vader when they sing :)

Well that's about all for this week. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm Thankful that I can be out here serving the Lord and sharing the message of his restored gospel.

Have a wonderful week!

Love, 

Elder Haslam

P.S. Thank you to my family for that picture you guys took up at the lodge! You're all the best!

Week 12 - Found Grant

Hi everyone! This week was extremely busy.

We flew to Halifax Wednesday morning and went on exchanges with the APs for the rest of that day. Then on Thursday, we drove to New Brunswick for MLC (Mission Leadership Conference). On the way back from MLC, I received a huge tender mercy!! So we were driving back an old car to Halifax, so it could be sold. A few minutes into the drive, we got a call from the APs saying that we needed to drop off the bike rack on the back of the car in Amherst! I started freaking out because I knew that was where Elder (Grant) Ipson is. When we got to Amherst, I called him and surprised him. It was awesome! We got to hang out and take a few pics before we had to leave. Not very many people get to say that they saw one of their best friends while out in the mission field. I'm very blessed!

That's about all for this week. We didn't really have too much time to meet with our investigators because we were so busy flying and traveling. We plan on meeting with them a lot this week, hopefully. 

Thank you all for your support! Hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving. Make sure you take time to thank our Heavenly Father for all he has done for you. We truly have so much for which to be thankful!

Love you all and miss you!!

Elder Haslam